


Half Blood: Chamber of Secrets

by PostMortemPixie



Series: Half Blood [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 01:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 63,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6403225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PostMortemPixie/pseuds/PostMortemPixie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maddy Mender returns to Hogwarts after a fairly eventful summer.</p><p>Second in Half Blood series</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Battle of the Labyrinth

**Chapter 1: Battle in the Labyrinth**

"Go put on armor," Maude Amber, daughter of Hecate, said flatly to Madeline Mender, daughter of Hades. The two were in the midst of preparing for a battle that would be coming _very_ soon. Most everyone was fully clad in armor and with their weapons at this point, except Maddy who had been making repairs to her double edged, stygian iron spear, which she'd accidentally snapped in two the previous day and had neglected to fix until it was absolutely necessary.

"Right, armor's a thing that exists," Maddy nodded, she began to head to the armory -despite growing up in Camp Half Blood she still didn't have her own set of armor- and Maude ran to the forest where the rest of the camp was, but Maddy's course was stopped on the way when her cousins Percy Jackson and Tyson, as well as Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood and Maddy's brother Nico di Angelo landed in the middle of the cabin area on pegasi.

Maddy dashed towards them, stopping at the edge of the group of Apollo's archers, hearing Percy explain about how the new training instructor, Quintus, was Daedalus and Kronos was rising.

"I feared as much," Chiron sighed. "We must hurry. Hopefully you have slowed down the Titan lord, but his vanguard will still be coming through. They will be anxious for blood. Most of our defenders are already in place. Come!"

"Wait a moment," Silenus, a potbellied satyr, demanded. "What of the search for Pan? You are almost three weeks overdue, Grover Underwood! Your searcher's license is revoked!" Grover took a deep breath. He stood up straight and looked Silenus in the eye.

"Searcher's licenses don't matter any more. The great god Pan is dead. He has passed on and left us his spirit."

" _What?_ " Silenus' face turned bright red. "Sacrilege and lies! Grover Underwood, I will have you exiled for speaking thus!"

"It's true," Percy piped up. "We were there when he died. All of us."

"Impossible! You are all liars! Nature-destroyers!"

"We will speak of this later," Chiron said calmly.

"We will speak of it now!" Silenus exclaimed, stomping down a cloven foot. "We must deal with this-!"

"Silenus," Chiron cut in. "My camp is under attack. The matter of Pan has waited two thousand years. I fear it will have to wait a bit longer. Assuming we are still here this evening." With that he readied his bow and galloped off to the rest of the campers, Apollo's archers following and the new group almost followed but was stopped when Maddy tackled Nico, somehow, even in a time of fighting she still managed to be happy.

"Nico!" She exclaimed, then promptly fell off of him. Nico sent her glares that would have scared anyone else into running to the opposite side of the globe.

"Maddy-" Percy began.

"We can catch up later," Annabeth said and ran after Chiron, the remaining five looked at each other and took off after Annabeth.

"Mads! Where's your armor!" Maude exclaimed when they arrived in the forest.

"It's too late now, Maude," Maddy sighed. "I'm here and I might not be able to help if I go back now. Besides," she patted her bag, which was still slung over her shoulder. "I've got ambrosia and nectar." Maude groaned.

"Whatever, I can't keep on looking after you with this. I've got to help Beckendorf with adding some magic into the traps." She turned and joined the children of Hephaestus.

"I'll help too!" Tyson exclaimed and followed Maude. Annabeth had joined the other children of Athena, all of whom were working on battle strategies, and backup strategies, and backup backup strategies as well as directing everyone on what they were to do in the coming battle. Everyone was helping, even Dionysus' kids, although Mr.D was nowhere to be found.

"It isn't enough," Chiron muttered. Maddy was briefly alarmed, but then realized that Luke and Kronos could have any number of monsters and enemy demigods coming up from the Labyrinth, which didn't help.

"Nice seeing you again, Nico," Maddy grinned at her brother.

"We're about to go to war and you're _grinning_ ," he scowled.

"Well, you know me. Ridiculously inproportional emotions. Happy when I should be upset, sad when I should be ecstatic."

"I don't actually know you well enough to know that yet," Nico sighed. "Why aren't you in armor?"

"Not enough time," Maddy shrugged. "I always forget when I'm not told. Anyways, Nico, can you _please_ stay in camp after this?"

"Maddy, I don't think-" Nico was interrupted by the ground shaking, everyone stopped and they were all quiet.

That is, until Clarisse barked out a single order, "Lock Shields!" And Kronos' army of monsters burst through the entrance to the Labyrinth.

The first were a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loud anyone could easily have gone deaf. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.

Maddy cursed in alarm but was drowned out by Charles Beckendorf yelling, "Fire!" The catapults Maude had worked on enchanting swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Apollo's archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze. But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a tripwire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. That was when Nico and Maddy ran into battle, joining the fight of ever coming monsters.

Nico got caught of in a group of telekhines, Maddy was surrounded by about a dozen basilisks. She danced around them, making sure she didn't touch any of the basilisks, who were poisonous to the touch. As she did this she slashed with her spear, it absorbed the essence of each one she killed until they were all gone, Maddy was left with more than a few burns, a majority of them on her legs but one landed in the middle of her torso, a bit off centre.

When she looked up she saw Nico summoning a dozen undead warriors in a variety of different military uniforms. Maddy couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy, the closest she could do to that was a few bones, she once managed an entire skeleton but she'd passed out afterwards.

Suddenly, Maddy was faced with two empousai, her lapse in concentration meant that this completely alarmed her, her grip on her spear tightened as she leaned back to avoid a slice from both of the empousai's claws. Claws, that Maddy noticed, were tinted a sickly green. Was it poison? Great, more poison.

"We don't normally go after girls," one of the empousai sighed. "But all the men are busy and it just wouldn't be satisfying." She lunged forward, her fangs bared. Maddy leapt out of the way. She really hated empousai, they weren't easy to fight at all and going by their speed, they were both senior empousai. Great.

"Gonna fight?" The first taunted. "Or are you just gonna avoid? Biding time until you get help?" Maddy stabbed her spear forward, but the empousai grabbed it by the wood and redirected it, snapping it in half and then the half she held in half again.

"Come on! I _just_ got that repaired like ten minutes ago!" Maddy exclaimed and jabbed the broken end of her spear at the empousai who promptly knocked it out of the way with the piece made purely out of wood and dropped the part with the blade. She noticed that the forest caught on fire at this point.

That was when the other empousai suddenly swiped at Maddy, her sharp, sharp nails caught on Maddy's skin just above her jaw, it then jumped down to her mid neck and continued going down until the nail reached her collarbone before Maddy managed to get away from the claws. She quickly flipped the spear around as she focused on opening up the ground a few feet back. The empousai took one step backwards and fell into the pit she had made, Maddy quickly sealed it up.

The first empousai turned as the second one fell and was sealed below the ground, Maddy took this time as an opportunity to lunge at her, but she was to quick, Maddy was able to nick her arm but the empousai dealt a blow of her own, she brought her nails up from Maddy's mid cheek, right through her eye. The pain was excruciating and she couldn't see at all from that eye, at first from the blood flooding it but then the actual cut took effect and everything was black. That was also when she noticed that the cut from the empousai that had fallen into the ground began to burn. Oh gods, that green tint really was poison. Maddy was wonderfully screwed.

" _Di Immortales_!" Chiron suddenly yelled and the empousai smirked.

"Stand! Do not run from her! Fight!" Tyson yelled.

Maddy flung herself at the empousai, blade out, the empousai dodged. Maddy swung the now short stick like a baseball bat, hoping to at least bruise the empousai or give her a splinter, but it did barely anything.

Suddenly, there was a pitch black sword through her stomach as she was sucked into the sword, revealing Nico.

"Thanks," Maddy sighed. "D'you have a spare weapon?" Nico shook his head and quickly handed her the two broken parts of her spear that were both laying at the ground by his feet. Maddy took advantage of the lull in the action in the area she was in and quickly threw the wooden piece in her bag and pulled out a chunk of ambrosia, almost swallowing it whole before she ran back into the fray of the battle, but before she had reached anything, everything stopped as the sound of thousands upon thousands of brass trumpets squealed -the sounds of pure fear- emitting from the mouth of Grover Underwood.

All at once, the forces of Kronos dropped their weapons and ran for their lives. The giants trampled the dracaenae trying to get into the Labyrinth first. Telekhines and hellhounds and enemy demigods scrambled after them. The tunnel rumbled shut, and the battle was over. The clearing was quiet except for the fires burning in the woods, and the cries of the wounded.

Nico quickly walked back to Maddy and grabbed her by the arm, the venom the empousai had coated their nails in was finally taking effect, so as he gripped her arm she'd begun to wobble and the right side of her face -the blind side- was burning and her neck wound was sending pain all the way to her shoulder.

"You _need_ to get checked out," he said.

"Where's Maude?" She asked, ignoring the statement and looking around the battlefield.

"You've been poisoned and your asking about _Maude_? Can you even see right now?"

"Out of my left eye."

"The entire right side of your face isn't moving, I'm taking you to the medics _now_ ," he began pulling her along.

"No. There are others that are more hurt than me, let them be taken care of first. I also want to know how Maude is."

"You have no concept of which wounds are bad and which ones aren't do you?" He sighed, still pulling, practically dragging, his half sister to the medics.

"Probably not. How's Maude?"

"She's fine," he groaned. "Her worst wound's a broken arm."

"Thank the gods," Maddy sighed. "Who were the fatalities, do you know? I felt some deaths but no one I knew well enough to identify who." Maddy was just barely able to pick up Nico shaking his head out of the corner of her eye.

Upon reaching the medics she was ushered away by Will Solace, Nico left the moment Will took her. Maddy found her attention fading, as well as the vision in her remaining eye, so she wasn't sure what Will was doing, he'd asked her if she had any nectar or ambrosia after getting the wounds, she'd told him she had and didn't remember anything after that.

* * *

Maddy missed the burning of the shrouds for the deceased, only two other people were still in the infirmary at the time, both victims of severe burns, one a child of Demeter, Alex Morgan, and the other a son of Hermes, Marcus Dorame. She was let out the next day in time for dinner. She found Nico standing in the shadows of the pavilion.

"Hey, Nico," she walked up to him, a little self conscious about her eye and the violent, green veins that were around her wounds as not all of the poison had left but it wasn't a fatal amount -though it still stung a bit- and it wouldn't leave for another few months, meaning horrifying venom veins until about the Winter Solstice. "You know, ever since they found out I was claimed there's a Hades table. You can tell because it's the only empty one that doesn't belong to Zeus, Hera, Artemis or Hestia."

"I know," he replied coldly.

"Come on, you're my brother, I want to get to know you better and I _just_ got out of the infirmary."

"Fine," he sighed and followed Maddy to the Hades table. Nico didn't get any food and Maddy only got a vine of grapes. "How long are you staying?"

"I'm leaving after the campfire."

"Oh, what! Come on, Nico, why don't you stay? There _is_ a Hades cabin ever since that giant deer scared the absolute Tartarus out of me and I froze _everything_ in like a ten foot radius."

"That's almost as much of a mess as my way of showing I'd been claimed."

"Yeah, I'm sure _that_ was entertaining. Horrifying to anyone who wasn't sure what was going on but hilarious to people who did. Or, you know, me. It'd be dead hilarious to me. Literally."

"Yeah, it was _amazingly_ funny," Nico replied bitterly.

"Can't you stay?" Maddy asked. "At least until I leave for school at the end of August?"

"I'll think about it," he groaned.

"Yay!" Maddy popped a grape into her mouth and grinned. "Quick question, how did you summon so many dead people? The most I've managed is one brainless skeleton and I passed out afterwards."

"I don't know," Nico shrugged. "It's kind of natural to me."

"Oh," Maddy visibly sagged. "I've been trying ever since I found out that Hades's my dad."

"Well, you're pretty talented with earth, maybe you're just better suited for geokinesis and I'm better suited for the things relating to death."

"It's not like I can't do stuff with death, I can control ghosts, do that thing were I give off the feeling of death and I can bring up bones. Of course I can also do shadow stuff and make it colder, too."

"You just need practice. You must not get a lot of time to try since you go to a boarding school."

"Yeah, I guess," Maddy sighed, then grinned. "Anyway, I was thinking about going to someone in the Aphrodite cabin to get my hair to cover up my eye instead of wearing an eye patch and looking like a tiny pirate with a weird skin problem, but a lot of them are pretty obnoxious. Well, not Selena but she's pretty busy."

"I don't know what to tell you," Nico replied, boredly.

"Where's Daedalus?"

"The Underworld. He died after the battle."

"I guess all I can say is good. I mean, he isn't a bad guy but he's the _second_ death cheater I've met in three months. Unfortunately, the first guy did something weird so he should be dead but he isn't. It's _really_ frustrating but two other death cheaters finally arrived in the Underworld because of it, so I mean," Maddy trailed of and shrugged. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"That's good, but what did that first one do to avoid death?"

"Ugh, it wasn't explained to me. I was going to ask dad but I've been too busy."

"I'm never busy, I could ask him for you if you tell me more about it."

"No, it's fine. I doubt a lot of things'll be happening after the whole labyrinth thing."

"Hmm," Nico replied.

"Come on, I'll show you cabin thirteen," Maddy said, plopping the last grape into her mouth and standing up.

* * *

Maddy woke up to the sound of a clicking at one of the few windows. She sat up and peered over to Nico's bed. Still asleep. Good, she didn't want to explain the non demigod related magic thing to him.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and opened the window, a large barn owl flew across the room and dropped the letter, as Maddy walked over it screeched and shot out the window so fast it blew a small gust of wind. Nico shot up, looking bewildered.

"What was that?" He asked, looking around the cabin that was only lit by irredentist green lights.

"Nothing, just a bug," Maddy said.

"Bugs don't screech like that."

"Oh, that was me," Maddy lied weakly, quickly performing a poor imitation of the owl's screech and grinned, embarrassed. "I'm, uh, terrified of bugs."

"I thought bugs avoided you."

"Um, not the big ones. Like lizards and- wait not lizards, lizards aren't bugs. I mean, gigantic spiders, moths, uh, you know, the big things."

"Okay," Nico said slowly, his baggy eyes narrowed. "I'm going back to sleep. You stop acting weird."

"Ahah, yeah, will do," Maddy grinned nervously, then, as Nico layed back down, throwing his blanket over his head, she turned to her letter, which she assumed was a Hogwarts letter, forgetting that it was too early for that by about a week. Instead, it was from Ron. She quickly opened it, it read:

_Maddy,_

_How's your summer been? Mine's been boring, but Fred and George have been playing Quidditch with me. I'm planning to try out when school starts back. Have you heard from Harry? I've sent him letters but he hasn't replied yet, Hermione and Bella say the same. Elliot didn't say, she mostly just called me a 'worrying sack of a ginger mop' and some other things, then asked me when I'm going to Diagon Alley so she can ridicule me in person. Her words._

Maddy had to stifle a laugh after reading that part, it sounded like Elliot hadn't changed much.

_I'll probably be in Diagon Alley two weeks before school starts, that's when we always go, Bella said she wouldn't be able to go that soon, though, but Hermione'll be there._

_Anyway, I'm really worried about Harry. Expect an owl from Hermione too._

_-Ron_

_P.S. When's your birthday? We all know each others but not yours._

_P.P.S. What're you getting Harry? I' haven't decided yet, do you have any ideas?_

Maddy pulled a pen and notebook from her bag, flipped open the notebook to somewhere in the middle where she began to write:

_Ron,_

_My summer's been decent enough, pretty normal. I didn't think any positions were opening up on the Quidditch team, Bell will be thrilled to try out anyway. I hope you two don't compete for the same spot, because, sorry Ron, Bell would definitely kick your ass._

_No, I haven't heard from Harry, but I haven't written him either. I also have no idea what to get him. And it's good to know Elliot hasn't miraculously become a better person, I would miss her rude remarks and sense of humour. Not a joke._

_I'll most likely be able to go to Diagon Alley then, I doubt my brother would mind it if I left._

_I don't even know my birthday to be honest, I didn't even know my exact age until I realized that all the first years were eleven._

_-The Best Person(Maddy)_

_P.S. Elliot was right to call you a worrying sack of a ginger mop, you really shouldn't be worried. I'm sure Harry's fine._

Maddy tore out the paper and folded it up, then left the dark cabin out to the equally dark outside world. It was probably some early hour of the morning, definitely before five, which is when the early risers began early rising. She called for Melinoe, the screech owl swooped down from the forest in a matter of seconds and perched on Maddy's arm, a leg extended. She attached the paper to her owl's leg and sent her off to find the Weasleys. Then, she returned back to her cabin to sleep again.

* * *

Another letter arrived while Maddy was sitting in the shade of the forest instead of learning to ride pegasi, she'd given up on that _years_ ago, they never even let her get close enough to touch them. This time, the owl just dropped it right into her lap and swooped away. She eagerly opened it.

_Dear Maddy,_

_How are you? I'm great, although I do wish I could practice magic, don't you? Anyway, have you heard from Harry this summer? I'm really very worried, you know how his relatives are, they could be doing something horrible(Ron thinks they're confiscating his mail, but I don't think so)_

_Will you be able to go to Diagon Alley two weeks before the first?_

_Sorry about how short this letter is!_

_Hoping your summer's been good,_

_Hermione_

* * *

_Hermione,_

_I'm fine and if you lived in America you could practice magic. There are different laws for underaged magic over here. No, I haven't heard from Harry, and you shouldn't worry. As Elliot said to Ron, you're being a 'worrying sack of a ginger mop'. And I can go to Diagon Alley then._

_-Maddy_

* * *

Maddy was exhausted, she'd just shadow travelled down to the Underworld, she'd finally found the time to talk to her father about the Philosopher's Stone remnants she still held in her pocket. She could feel the weight in her pocket and it was horrible, she hated the stone. She pulled the stone bits out of her pocket and stared down at the mesmerising bits of red as she made her way to Hades' throne room.

"Maddy," he said shortly when she entered.

"Father," she replied. "I'm sorry for taking so long, but I have the parts of the Philosopher's Stone. I wanted to make sure it's destroyed properly." She held out the red rocks to her father, who reached down and took them from her, examining them.

"They are destroyed sufficiently for the average wizard, however a powerful one could easily repair it, as could certain demigods and the gods," he stated, setting the stone remains down on the table and they suddenly burst into tiny, miniscule pieces so small they almost couldn't be seen. A skeletal guard walked forward and began gathering up the dust. "Dump it into the river Styx," Hades said offhandedly, waving the guard away. "Thank you, Maddy."

"Well," Maddy shifted uncomfortably, "I couldn't exactly let something that prevents death and gives you an ultimate amount of wealth continue existing, it's just _wrong_." She stifled a yawn once she finished talking.

"Yes," he nodded, "it is. Do you need to rest before returning?"

"Yeah," Maddy nodded.

"One of the skeletons can take you to a room," he waved his hand and one of the skeletal guards walked forward and showed her to one of the guest rooms, where she promptly collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Maddy got a third letter two days later as she was heading to breakfast, this time Nico saw the owl drop the letter into her lap and looked at her suspiciously, an eyebrow raised. She was sure the reason why no one had noticed an owl dropping a letter on Maddy the previous year was because they'd all been distracted with food and friends, but Nico didn't have anything to distract him from the owl's actions.

"Did that owl just give you a letter?" He asked.

"What? No," Maddy laughed nervously, shoving her letter into her pocket. "What owl? There wasn't an owl."

"Maddy, you aren't doing a very good job of lying."

"Because I know you won't believe me. I am a very good liar, Death Breath."

"If I'm Death Breath to you now too, you're Bone Brain."

"Excuse you, child."

"You can't call me child, I'm technically eighty years older then you," Nico pointed out.

"Whatever, you small child," Maddy replied. "You go on, I've got a thing. Catch up to you in like twenty minutes tops!" She raised her voice as she ran back into Cabin Thirteen. She plopped down on her bed and struggled to read the second letter from Ron.

_The Worst Person(Maddy),_

_There isn't an opening, they just have tryouts every year incase someone better than that's already on the team comes around and for backups in case of injuries, I'll be trying for Chaser but I really want to be Keeper(like that'll happen, Wood would have to die to lose his place on the team before graduation) but I guess I'll try for Keeper incase Wood does get injured(he'd still play with every bone in his body broken) then I'd still get to go practice at least. I think Bell's going for to try for Chaser, Beater_ and _Seeker(there probably should be a backup Seeker, being honest, that way they'll still be able to play when Harry gets hurt)_

_Why haven't you written to anyone? You have an owl so I know that's not the problem. What type of paper did you write on? I've never seen paper with lines on it before and it's so weak._

_You have a brother? Why didn't you ever tell us?_

_Looking forward to seeing you at Diagon Alley._

_-Ron_

* * *

_Worrying Sack of a Ginger Mop(Ronald),_

_The Quidditch team_ does _need a backup Seeker, Harry gets hurt_ too _much(I'm not really one to talk, though)_

_I haven't written because I've been busy, and Melinoe likes to fly around, you know, hunting._

_Yes, I have a brother, well, half brother. I met him last Christmas but I knew about him a little before school started last year. I didn't tell you because I never found it important information, if you couldn't tell I'm a fairly private person._

_That's regular notebook paper. I guess it's just a muggle thing. Looking forward to seeing you as well, being completely honest I'm looking forward to seeing Hermione and Bella more._

_-Better Than All Your Friends(Maddy)_

* * *

_Worst of All My Friends(Madeline),_

_Elliot also can't go to Diagon Alley when we're going._

_Fred, George and I are going to borrow my dad's flying car and rescue Harry from his aunt and uncle tonight, we think they're intercepting his mail somehow._

_-For the Record, Bell Would Not Kick my Arse(Ron)_

* * *

_Bell Would Totally Kick Your Ass(Ronald Weasley),_

_That sucks, but that's a great idea. I doubt his aunt and uncle could intercept his mail, but it sounds like fun. See you guys next week._

_-Better Than You(Mads)_

* * *

_Horrible Friend(Madeline Mender),_

_It worked! Turns out his aunt and uncle weren't intercepting his mail, it was a house elf who doesn't want him to go to Hogwarts this year. Apparently something horrible's supposed to happen. I dunno what could be worse than You-Know-Who teaching us Defence. Unless he was referring to Gilderoy Lockhart._

_Can you believe that he made all of his textbooks his books! Mum and dad always say Defence was great but I guess it'll be another rubbish year. I don't know how we're going to be able to afford_ five _complete sets of his books, they're supposed to be really expensive and from what I heard not very good._

_-Upset but Still Better Than You(Ron)_

* * *

_Ginger Mop(Ronaldo Weasel),_

_House elf? How mad was your dad when you took his car?(On a range from one to death, please)_

_Going off of the fact that one of the required books is his autobiography, I think Lockhart's going to be worse than Voldemort. I could buy some of you some books, apparently my mom's from a pureblood family and she works at the Ministry of Magic, and I get ALL of her money!_

_-Fight me Weasley(Your Very Good Friend, Maddy)_

_P.S. Don't send me a letter back, I won't get the letter until after we meet up in Diagon Alley._

_P.P.S. We brawl in Madam Malkin's at noon(kidding, I'll meet you guys in Flourish and Blotts)_

" _Another_ owl delivered letter?" Nico asked, approaching with Percy, Annabeth and Maude as Maddy sent the letter to Ron off.

" _No_ ," she replied, biting her bottom lip. Annabeth frowned at her, she'd never approved of the way Maddy had used her mother's sacred animal as a messenger.

"Didn't you say that was a Scottish thing?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, it was one of my friends from school. I'm meeting up with some of them tomorrow and am staying for the rest of the break."

"So I can leave without you hunting me down?" Nico asked.

"I don't _hunt_ you down," Maddy rolled her eyes.

"You probably would, though," Maude said.

"Thanks, Maude, you're the best friend I could ever ask for. Now, who wants to go fail at kicking Clarisse's ass in Sword and Shield practice!"

"I think you're the only who's going to fail," Percy joked.

"Excuse you, did you break through a mountain troll's skull a few months ago?"

"When did that happened?" Annabeth asked.

"Halloween. A troll broke into the school," Maddy shrugged.

"And you didn't tell us about this sooner why?" Maude asked.

"Well it never came up."

"I wrote you _far_ too many letters to you for _that_ to happen."

"I second that," Annabeth agreed. "Why can't you just let us IM you instead of making me strap letters to the leg of an owl."

"Time differences, Annabeth, also that's literally the only way for letters to get there. The school is in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the depths of the Scottish highlands, it doesn't even have an address."

"That's amazing," Maude said.

"I'm definitely visiting you this year," Percy said.

"At least nothing else'll get hurt when you blow up the school," Annabeth smirked and Percy looked jokingly hurt.

The group continued to talk and joke until they had to split up for lunch.


	2. Returning to the Wizarding World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't updated in like three weeks...  
> I was panicking about school projects that I never actually did. That was fun. Enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 2: Returning to the Wizarding World**

Maddy rolled her eyes. She was stuck in Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop in Diagon Alley. Normally she wouldn't mind but it was crowded with squealing witches and an exceptionally arrogant wizard who was undoubtedly bluffing about all of his claims. The arrogant wizard has also written the multitude of books for the Defence Against the Dark Arts, so either he or a wixen who was extremely smitten with him was teaching.

She was shoved aside by a snarling wizard holding a camera. "Get out of the way! This is for the _Daily Prophet_!" He snapped. Maddy stumbled backwards and stopped when she fell over onto someone else.

"Ow," the wizard she'd fallen into moaned.

"Sorry," she said as she quickly got back into her feet. She turned to face him, finding that she had fallen into her friend from the previous year. "Oh, hey, Ron!"

"Hey," he rubbed his arm.

"Hey, Harry, Hermione," Maddy waved at her other friends who were standing right beside them. Harry and Ron were obviously not pleased with the book selection or with Gilderoy Lockhart, but Hermione was clearly smitten by the arrogant wizard, as were two other girls standing by, obviously Ron's mother and sister.

"Hey," Harry replied.

"Oh, who's this?" The older woman asked, almost scared of the raven haired girl. Probably worried about who her son was fraternizing with, after all Maddy had developed some very troublesome features over the summer, firstly her formerly warm undertones had turned cold, she was also gaunt and had heavy bags under her eyes, and there were other things not related to being the offspring of the god of the dead. Thankfully, she had fairly effectively hidden the gash through her eye by allowing someone from the Aphrodite cabin to style her hair in a way the would cover that part of her face.

"Maddy Mender," Maddy said quickly, putting out her hand to shake, which the woman did. "I'm a friend of Ron's, Harry's and Hermione's."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ron's mother and this is Ginny." She nodded to the young redhead. "She's starting at Hogwarts this year."

Suddenly the loud group of people they were surrounded by went completely quiet as Lockhart dived towards Harry, grabbed his arm and pulled him up onto the makeshift stage Lockhart was signing books at.

"What'd I miss?" Maddy asked quietly.

"He's noticed Harry," Ron replied.

"Nice big smile, Harry," Lockhart was saying as a multitude of cameras went off. Harry tried to escape from his grip but he pulled him back and said. "When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge," The crowd applauded again. "He had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Harry a little shake that made his glasses slip to the end of his nose, "that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, _Magical Me_. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Ron gaped in horror and Maddy narrowed her eyes and scowled at the pompous buffoon while the surrounding witches squealed in excitement.

"I'm gonna fight." Maddy said. "Where's Malfoy? He has to come in here sometime."

Lockhart handed Harry the entire collection of Gilderoy Lockhart's books, which he gave to Ginny.

"I bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter," Malfoy had arrived.

"Oh good," Maddy grinned devilishly.

"Famous Harry Potter," Malfoy sneered. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making front page."

"He didn't ask for that!" Ginny suddenly yelled.

"Oh, Potter, looks like you've got a girlfriend." Ginny went scarlet. "Oh, Weasley," he suddenly turned to Ron. "I bet your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all these books." Ron turned scarlet as well.

"Alright, Ron. Get the bets going," Maddy said.

"And Mender too. What happened over the summer? Did you get his with a bat?"

"No, I did not get hit with a bat, but you're about to!" Maddy yelled, grabbing one of the large books off of a nearby shelf, ready to throw it at the blond.

"Ron!" A red haired man suddenly exclaimed, probably Ron's dad, with Fred and George, Ron's older twin brothers. "What are you doing it's far too crowded."

"Woah, Maddy are you about to hit Malfoy?" Fred asked.

"It's about time," George added.

"Do _not_ do that," Mr. Weasley instructed, Maddy hesitated and put down the book, deciding that it _was_ to crowded to start a fight and that would not be a good way to be introduced to one of her friends parents. She'd do it on the Hogwarts Express.

"Well, well, well. Arthur Weasley," a man with long silvery blonde hair, holding a cane had walked up.

"Lucius," Mr. Weasley nodded curtly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said . "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime." He reached into the cauldron Ginny was keeping her books in and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_.

"Obviously not," said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizardkind if they don't even pay you well for it?" flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said , his pale eyes straying to Mr. and , who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley, and I thought your family could sink no lower-"

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; had thrown himself at , knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbound came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"; the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over.

"This is entertaining," Maddy said brightly.

"Gentlemen, please! Please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than everyone else:

"Break it up there, gents. Break it up." Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled and apart. had a cut lip and had been hit in the eye by an _Encyclopedia of Toadstools_. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice. Maddy noticed there was something different about the book, it gave of the same feeling as Harry's scar and Quirrell.

"Here, girl, take your book, it's the best your father can give you." Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that. No Malfoy's worth listenin' ter, bad blood, that's what it is. Come on now, let's get outta here." The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and beside herself with fury.

"A fine example to set for your children... brawling in public... what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought-"

"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report. Said it was all publicity."

"Oh, I wish I could've hit Malfoy with that book!" Maddy grumbled. "I stopped because I didn't want to make a bad impression then he scrambled away after started fighting his dad."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't," Hermione said. "You don't look very well, like you could collapse any moment, you wouldn't be able to fight him." Maddy narrowed her eyes at the brunette.

"Hermione. I'm fine."

"You look like a dead body!" She hissed.

"Thank you, that's what I was going for. It's this new style in American muggle fashion called ' _Oops! I died!_ '"

"Ron, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" suddenly said.

"I'm Maddy Mender," she replied.

"I know a Mender who works at the Ministry. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I believe she has a daughter who just started working there as well, except she's in the Department of Mysteries. Quite young for an Unspeakable as she just graduated from Hogwarts last year but I hear she's very talented. Are you perhaps related to those Menders?"

"I think so," Maddy nodded. "I was told at Gringotts that I have a mom who works at the Ministry, so probably."

"Very... strange woman Eleanor is," continued. "Now, tell me, Maddy, where are you off to now?"

"Well, I'm done with my my shopping so I'll probably be renting a room at the Leaky Cauldron," Maddy shrugged.

"Why?"

"I live across an ocean and with muggles so it's be a bit of a hassle to go back."

"You can come with us," Ron offered. "Right dad?"

"If your mothers fine with it," smiled.

"Oh, thanks!" Maddy grinned. Ron pulled her up to the front of the group of redheads -plus Harry and the Grangers- and asked his mom if Maddy could stay, she nodded and Ron and Maddy went back to where Hermione, Harry and Ginny were.

"You'll probably have to sleep in Ginny's room," Ron said as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. "Also, it'll be kind of cramped."

"Oh, that's fine," Maddy said. "Really, up until shortly before I came here I had to live in this cabin with about fifty people, the majority of whom had the tendency to steal practically everything they could and do fairly destructive pranks. A lot of them also acted a lot like Fred and George."

"It's good to know you'll be prepared for our house," Ginny said brightly.

"Maddy!" said quickly, Maddy suddenly realized that and Percy were gone. "Have you ever travelled by floo before?"

"Is it possible to travel by a sickness?" Maddy asked. "I'm pretty sure it isn't."

"Not _the_ flu," Hermione said. " 's talking about floo powder."

"Oh, well no."

"Okay," began. "What you do is you take a handful of this powder," he gestured to a basin of green dust beside the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. "Throw it into the fire, step in and say where you want to go. So say 'the Burrow'."

"Oh, okay." Maddy said as she watched the rest of the Weasley do what had said, then she did so herself. Harry following after her into an old and shabby looking house, Hermione had already left with her parents at this point. Honestly, the Weasley's looked homey and lived in, unlike the cabins at Camp Half Blood and the dormitories at Hogwarts. It was different and she found that she actually kind of liked it.

"There wasn't any preparation for you, but there should be room in Ginny's room," said kindly as Maddy put the books she'd just bought from Flourish and Blotts into her bigger-on-the-inside bag.

"Thanks," Maddy smiled and looked around the room to see if Melinoe had come through the fireplace with her. She didn't see her screech owl anywhere so she assumed she had stayed at the Leaky Cauldron. She wasn't worried for her owl, she would constantly be left behind whenever Maddy shadow traveled and always managed to find her.

"I'll show you," Ginny said quickly and pulled her up the stairs, eventually stopping at one of the many old doors, it didn't stand out in any way, shape or form, and when Ginny opened the door she found that it was a very normal room. Or at least what Maddy expected a normal room to look like, she didn't _actually_ know since she's always lived in communal setting, and even alone in the Hades cabin she couldn't decorate it because she didn't have anything to do so with, though if she did she probably wouldn't as she was quite satisfied by the appearance of Cabin 13.

Ginny's room was small but it could very easily fit the two girls. The room was clean, for the most part, anyway. There was a pile in the corner of her room, the hardest corner to see from the doorway. Maddy couldn't tell what was in the pile but she was pretty sure she could spot a book and a shirt. Maddy decided it was probably a junk pile or a pile of things with no place.

"Nice room," Maddy said, completely sincerely. It was _way_ homier than the Hermes and Hades cabins. After that Ginny and Maddy went back to the ground floor, the Weasley and Harry were taking their newly bought items to their room, Maddy's things were all in her bag, completely weightless, she was incredibly grateful to Maude for that little charm she casted on her bag a few years prior before her first, and only, quest, and she didn't help any of them, so she spoke to Mr. and , it was mostly them asking her questions since they'd just met her so they wanted to get to know their son's friend.

The time spent the the Weasley's house, which they had named the Burrow, was actually quite fun. Fred and George's antics reminded her of camp, she also watched her friends flying around on their broomsticks playing makeshift games of quidditch, it was a lot more interesting to watch her friends play than watching them play at school, especially when someone stepped down for a game or two to let Ginny play because the way she flew was rather erratic and, while she was good for someone who hadn't ridden brooms that often, a little clumsy.

The day that they would have to leave was utterly chaotic, Eris would be proud. was running around, searching for spare socks and quills, there were more collisions than Maddy could count, most took place on the stairs, with people who were only half dressed and carrying slices of toast. nearly broke his neck taking the trunks out to the car when astray chickens ran across his path. Maddy was far more composed than everyone else, though she had to admit to running head first into Percy and at different times and tripping over more than one chicken, and she found it rather amusing watching her friends stumble around.

"How're all of us and our things supposed to fit in that tiny car?" Harry asked as they watched load Ginny's trunk into the back of the blue Ford Anglia.

"Harry, you've seen me store all my school books, several notebooks, food, quills, pens and a jar of fire in this one bag and you ask me how we're all going to fit into a car," Maddy replied. "And even if you hadn't seen all of my school equipment fit in my bag or if I didn't have this bag then you still should be able to presume that it's magic."

"Oh, right. Magic."

"That's the last trunk!" declared. "Alright, everyone in the car!" Everyone began to flood into the car, Maddy, Harry, Ron, Percy, Fred and George were all very comfortable in the elongated back seat while took the driver's seat and and Ginny sat in the passenger's seat that looked more like a park bench.

turned on the engine and the car began to trundle down the long, dirt path leading away from the Burrow. Of course, they had to stop multiple times, Fred forgot his broom, Ginny her diary -which Maddy felt a strange sort of energy coming from- and George his Filibuster Fireworks. Because of these delays they were running late and tension was running high.

peared at his watch and turned to his wife and said, "Molly, dear-"

"No, Arthur," sternly interrupted him.

"It's not like anyone would see, this button here's an Invisibility Booster, that's get us up in the air and we could fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one'd be the wiser."

"No flying!" Maddy quickly exclaimed.

"Exactly," nodded. "Besides, it's broad daylight." sighed disappointedly.

"Fine, Molly."

They reached King's Cross station at quarter to eleven, Maddy stared up at the train station, taking in all the details, she'd never seen it before as she shadow travelled directly to Platform 9¾ the previous year. The large group walked through the station, Maddy wondering exactly how they would get onto the platform, she didn't exactly see a gateway that said 'PLATFORM 9¾' anywhere, not like she expected that.

"So, how're we getting on the platform?" Maddy asked, her friends sent her odd looks.

"How d'you not know how to get to the platform?" Ron asked incredulously.

"You got on the platform fine last year," Harry said.

"Yeah but last year I went straight to the platform, I didn't do all this going through King's Cross Station stuff," Maddy waved her hands about to gesture at the station.

"How?" Ginny asked.

"I had, uh, an escort?" Maddy was certain her friends noticed the question in her voice. "They apparated me directly to the platform."

"Oh," Ron said, almost enviously.

"You'll see how we get there," Ginny said lightly as they stopped at the metal barrier between platforms 9 and 10.

"Percy first," said, nervously looking up at the wall clock placed on the barrier. They only had five minutes to get on the train. Percy briskly strode forward and vanished through the barrier.

"Of course, what else should I expect but walking through a wall," Maddy sighed. "It's so obvious now."

passed through the barrier next, then Fred and George, then and Ginny.

"You two go first," Maddy nodded. "I'm still figuring out the least conspicuous way to go through."

"Okay then," Harry said.

"We should go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said.

"Ready?" He turned to Ron, who nodded. They both took off at a run at the barrier. Maddy groaned, that was the opposite of conspicuous, people don't _run_ in train stations, at least she didn't think they did. She groaned even louder when Harry crashed right into the wall, falling over, and Ron did the same.

"Why would you _run_?" She asked, walking over to her friends who were laying on the ground, standing over them as they moaned in pain. "Opposite of conspicuous, who runs indoors? Especially when there's giant metal monsters who could easily run you over and crush you flat?"

"Well, isn't that a happy thought," Ron said bitterly as he pushed himself up, holding himself up with one hand and rubbing his head with the other.

"It's real life, it's not supposed to be happy," Maddy scowled back at him. "What happened? Are you supposed to think ' _I think I can! I think I can!'_ like the Little Engine that Could?"

"The _what_?"

"It's a stupid children's book."

"No, we just run through," Harry, who had managed to get onto his feet said and helped Ron up.

"Are you _sure_?" Maddy scoffed.

"You're horrible when you're this way," Ron scowled.

"Except when I almost break Malfoy's wand," she smirked. "Now I'm going to try going through just incase you two messed up somehow."

"It's impossible to mess up!"

"Shut up, you're attracting attention," Maddy walked around the fallen trolleys, trunks and cage, then pressed her hand against the wall. Solid.

"We ran into a wall, you'd think someone might've noticed," Harry said as he collected his things, as did Ron.

"Well, you'd be surprised with the things you can get away with in big city places without getting in trouble," Maddy crossed her arms and leaned against the solid, steel barrier, remembering her one quest, that had been incredibly difficult, and she often wondered why, out of everyone she knew, Maude had picked _her_ to go. She'd been out for nearly a year and half with Maude and one of Maude's friends, an unclaimed boy named Marcel who was quite the skilled marksman, they were searching, and attempting to kill a small group of lycanthropes. They had followed them all over North America. On their search they'd gotten into a fight in the New York subway with some mortal who'd tried to steal their things. Of course it was only a fist fight, but it was still extremely rough and barely anyone paid them any attention.

"Why would you tell us not to attract attention when you know that?" Ron asked, annoyed.

"It's fun annoying you."

"How're we getting to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, he was quite obviously extremely worried. They'd missed the express and the only way Maddy could think of getting to their school was by shadow travelling but she couldn't do that with Harry and Ron, that would pretty much reveal her as being a demigod. Sure, they knew she had ways of getting around from place to place but none of her friends knew _how_ she did it and she'd have to take Harry and Ron through that dark realm of shadows that is shadow travelling, and considering that she'd have to take two extra people it would either drain them as well or drain her by a considerably larger amount than normal.

"The car!" Ron exclaimed. "It can fly! We'd get there maybe even before the train!"

" _No flying!_ " Maddy retaliated. "Do you remember the flying lesson last year?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! Why didn't you come to the rest of them?" Maddy groaned.

"Right, Harry was off getting on the quidditch team and you were flying around having a merry old time!"

"Maybe we should talk quieter," Harry suggested.

"No, it's okay, Harry, they'll just think we're delusional. That's how big cities work. At least in America that's how they work, I imagine it'd be the same here."

"What happened during the flying lesson?" Ron asked.

"I nearly died. But, whatever, you guys fly there, I'll get there on my own. That'll be safer for everyone."

"But how'll you-"

"How I get everywhere, Ron, natural magics," Maddy rolled her eyes, both at her friend and at the way she had to call her powers that came from being that child of Hades 'natural magics'.

"Do you know how to drive?" Harry asked as the trio began to walk through King's Cross Station back to the magical Ford Anglia where Harry and Ron put their things back in the trunk.

"I've never driven but it looks easy enough," Ron shrugged. Maddy snorted. That ride was going to be fatal even without the threat of being struck down by Zeus or crashing into a body of water and being drowned by Poseidon. "What?"

"Have fun dying," she said. Ron sent her a confused look. "Driving isn't easy, it isn't like flying, which you can apparently pick up in under a minute. There's a lot of things that go into it and you can't just pick it up. You'll probably end up crashing into something."

"It can't be _that_ hard."

"But don't most of those things deal with driving on the ground where there's traffic?" Harry asked. "I think the petrol's replaced with magic and we don't need to know about street lights or anything like that."

"If you say so, Harry, you grew up around more cars than me, after all," Maddy sighed, though she was being sarcastic. "Go on, I'll wait for you two to leave before I go." She crossed her arms and watched her friends clamber into the car. They peered around to make sure there wasn't anyone looking and Ron started the car, looked around again, and the car vanished, most likely the Invisibility Booster had mentioned before. Maddy felt a small gust of wind as the car undoubtedly lifted off.

Maddy walked back to the shadow of the building and travelled to station where the train would let off the hundreds of Hogwarts students off in several hours. Okay, maybe going directly to the station was a mistake and lacked much forethought but she didn't have the energy to travel somewhere else and then go back to the station later, besides she would probably lose track of time and end up being incredibly late to the Welcoming Feast.

Due to her newfound exhaustion, Maddy curled up in a corner where the shadows were plentiful and shut her eyes, hoping for a peaceful sleep, which had become a rarity over the summer, everyone knew a war was coming and that it would be soon. Percy would be sixteen soon, meaning the prophecy would begin and that wasn't good news, although there were other things bothering her dreams than just the oncoming war. Something about Hogwarts. But her dreams hadn't cleared up enough for her to tell what exactly would be happening, the most she got were small pieces; the sound of a snake hissing or a pool of water reflecting something Maddy couldn't quite make out and, more than once, a pair of gleaming yellow eyes that froze Maddy to her core. She could feel that death was greatly linked to those eyes and she was, admittedly, worried.

* * *

Maddy was awoken from her usual deep slumber by a wet nose rubbing up against her. She was relieved to be woken up from her cryptic and incredibly vague demigod dream that was simply a bathroom stall and the sound of crying -she only knew it was a demigod dream and not just a random dream that mashed together two things she'd seen before or something like that because of the sense of foreboding she got from it- but she was also extremely annoyed.

She sat up and the small hellhound -who was only small in hellhound terms and no other- nuzzled her. She recognized this hellhound as Fang, who belonged to the giant of a groundskeeper, Hagrid. She stood up and saw Hagrid looking around and calling out for his dog. Maddy sat back down and commanded the hellhound to go back to Hagrid. Fang obeyed this command and she was left to sit and think about her dream. Of course, she was incredibly fidgety, as she always was when she couldn't do anything athletic or that could tire her out without slowly eroding away her soul and making it so that she _had_ to sleep in order for that lost amount of soul to return. She already missed practicing fighting, play capture the flag and scaling the lava rock wall. Maybe this year she'd do something other than run around on the grounds, that had gotten pretty boring by the time school had ended. Maybe she could try scaling up the walls of Hogwarts, that probably wouldn't count as encroaching on the sky god's domain since she wouldn't be flying.

As Maddy thought over her dream she decided that the bathroom was probably one at Hogwarts, even though she didn't recognize it she had really only used the Slytherin girls' bathroom, the girls' bathroom by the Great Hall and the one by the Astronomy Tower but she couldn't figure out what the crying was about. It was definitely a young girl crying, but it also sounded detached and echoed some, which could either be because of the bathroom, which could have been large and empty enough to cause an echo, or some other reason. It could be a ghost or it could just be the way the girl's voice sounded.

As Maddy abruptly slipped out of her thoughts as she grew bored of this topic, Melinoe swooped down and landed on her shoulder, then she noticed Professor McGonagall walking along the empty platform, her wand in hand. She was stopping in front of each street lantern, saying something and the dead lantern would be lit. Then she moved on to the next lantern. Maddy thought about telling McGonagall that a magical car may or may not crash into the school, weighing the pros and cons -the biggest con she found was she would be questioned about how she arrived at the platform so early and the best pro she found was that she had the opportunity to startle one of her teachers by quietly walking up to her and saying what she had to say- she decided to tell the Transfiguration professor.

McGonagall was lighting a lantern down just one from the one Maddy had been placed behind since she'd arrived at the station, Maddy stood up and lightly walked over to her strict teacher and said, "You should know that a magical, flying Ford Anglia might crash into the school." McGonagall jumped a little and quickly turned to face Maddy. Her startled expression died down when she saw who had spoken to her.

"Miss Mender, how did you get here so soon before the Hogwarts Express?" She asked.

"I, uh, walked," Maddy knew this was a bad lie but what else was she supposed to say? "But, you know, that flying car, you might want to look out for that."

"And how do you know about this car that might crash into the school?"

"Harry and Ron missed the Express, so they're flying here in the Weasley's car."

"I see," McGonagall said, almost faintly, but also like she expected this, or at least wasn't surprised. "How did you get here to fast, Miss Mender?" Maddy shrugged both visibly and audibly and smiled innocently. Professor McGonagall looked at her almost suspiciously, an eyebrow raised. "Really."

"Yep, everything after eleven's a complete blur," Maddy nodded. "I think I hitchhiked for a while and then I walked." McGonagall lightly shook her head.

"Why didn't you send a letter by owl? Both you and Potter have owls."

"What? _We could've done that_?" McGonagall simply sighed.

"How long have you been out here?"

"I don't know, multiple hours. How much longer do I have to wait?"

"About two hours."

Okay, that was a long time. She wasn't tired so she couldn't sleep, and she couldn't waste time his she did at camp. It would be a long couple of hours. Maddy watched McGonagall turning on the rest of the street lanterns, sitting on the ground, twisting her hair around her fingers and gnawing in her lower lip as she thought about possible things for her to do while she waited.

"Come along, Mender," McGonagall stopped in front of Maddy once she'd finished her job of lighting the lanterns. Maddy looked up at her professor, a little confused. "Well you can't stay out here for two more hours, especially in this weather." It might've been an unusually cold and windy night for the first of September but it didn't really bother Maddy a lot, when you can make it colder on whim, live in New York and spent the entirety of winter in the northern regions of Canada just once, cold weather kind of stops bothering you. She leapt up to her feet and thanked the Transfiguration professor.

"I won't have to cross a lake on the way, will I?" Maddy asked a few feet away from the platform. She was looking around at the earthen path and at the plants and trees lining it.

"No," McGonagall looked at the second year curiously. "The crossing of the Great Lake is only something the first years do."

"Oh, good," she let out a sigh of relief, McGonagall, once again, shot a mildly confused look at her student. Maddy happily walked alongside one of her favourite professors, if a little awkwardly and not enjoy the silence in the least, though she did find the walking quite enjoyable.

They entered a wider area that contained one carriage pulled by a black, skeletal horse that positively radiated death. Maddy wasn't sure what this animal was, but she was sure that it wouldn't panic around her as the pegasi at camp did, so she clambered onto the seat closest to the horse after McGonagall sat down.

' _Welcome, heiress!'_ One of the two horses chirped happily. Maddy didn't respond.

' _Must you be so loud, Midir?"_ The second horse shot at the first

' _Oh, cheer up Kthonia!'_ The first neighed joyously while the second muttered under her breath. The two did not continue conversing as they pulled the carriage.

Maddy, now thoroughly bored fidgeted and tried to come up with something to say to the stern woman sitting across from her that wouldn't be weird for a young student to say to their considerably older teacher. She ended up asking something she didn't think was actually appropriate but she was dying to know the answer.

"Professor, I've been wondering, why was Lockhart hired to teach Defense this year?" McGonagall sent the Slytherin a stern look.

"Because Dumbledore wanted him," she replied in a tone that very clearly implied that she wouldn't tolerate further questions about that particular subject. She very clearly didn't like the idea of Lockhart teaching either. Maddy wanted to ask more, but instead she turned to look at the skeletal horses. She stretched out her arm and pet the back of one of the two horses.

' _Thank you, heiress!'_ The one named Midir vocally grinned and let out one of the usual horse sounds, a neigh or a whiny. She petted the other one as well then sat back up, finding her position uncomfortable. McGonagall was looking at her with concern.

"Is there something wrong, professor?" She asked, wondering what was causing McGonagall to look at her in that particular way.

"Nothing, Miss Mender," she shook her head. The carriage drew to a stop and the professor and student got off, Maddy could hear a slightly disapointed whiny behind her.

' _Goodbye, heiress!'_ Midir cried. ' _I hope we get to see you again soon!'_ Maddy turned to the skeletal horses and smiles at them, then began to walk, walking quickly at first in order to catch up with McGonagall, then she matched step with her teacher, following her all the way to the castle.

Once inside the old school McGonagall left to sort out some final things before everyone arrived and Maddy walked around the castle with the camera Hagrid had given her the previous year out so she could take pictures of some more of the school, she had only gotten the Great Hall and the outside of Hogwarts the previous year. She was standing in one of the dungeon corridors, trying to get several different angles of the architecture and designs, when a familiar voice sounded through the dank dungeons.

"Miss Mender," Maddy turned to face the greasy haired potions master. "What are you doing here?"

"I walked," Maddy replied immediately. "Because I missed the express. Professor McGonagall brought me in."

"What are you doing down here instead of waiting in the Great Hall or working on homework?" He seemed suspicious.

"Well, I already did the work and I can't just wait around, I have ADHD," she replied. "So, I'm taking pictures of some nice architecture."

"The other students will be arriving soon, go wait in the Great Hall." Maddy stuffed her camera into her bag and headed out of the dungeon, not wanting to make Snape mad before school even started, but instead of going to the Great Hall, she waited by the entrance so she could talk to Bella and Hermione before going to the Slytherin table with Elliot.

She was standing off to the side, watching one of the portraits -the particular one the daughter of Hades was watching was of a group of very different looking witches and wizards, some old some young, playing some sort of wizard board game, not chess, and they were all animatedly yelling at each other, one had even transfigured some of them into small animals- when the large, wood doors of Hogwarts swung open and all the students of Hogwarts, second years and up, walked through. Most of them were talking joyously or looking around the school that they'd missed, Maddy kept an eye out for her friends, searching through the mass of teens.

Eventually, she spotted bushy, brown hair, frizzy red hair and an extremely tall girl. Hermione, Bella and Elliot.

Maddy ran through the crowd and said, "Hey, guys." Her three friends jumped and hurled around to face her.

"Maddy!" Bella exclaimed.

"Where were you?" Hermione asked quickly, obviously extremely worried. "Do you know where Harry and Ron are?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be crashing into the school fairly soon," Maddy said offhandedly.

"Crashing?" Elliot asked, amused and excited.

"Yeah, the barrier closed up so Ron and Harry took the Weasley's flying car. Ron's driving so the car'll probably crash."

"How did you get here?" Hermione asked.

"Running and hitchhiking," Maddy shrugged, making sure she stuck to the story she'd told McGonagall. "I got here _hours_ ago."

"Amazing," Bella shook her head.

"Why thank you, Bell, now, I'm starving. I didn't get lunch, let's catch up after Ron and Harry crash into the school."

"Sounds like a plan," Elliot agreed and they began to walk again.

"See you," Bella waved cheerily to Maddy and Elliot as they walked to opposite ends of the large hall, Bella and Hermione to the red and gold Gryffindors and Elliot and Maddy to the silver and green Slytherins.

"Where's Snape?" Elliot asked. Maddy looked up to the staff table and saw that Snape was, indeed, missing from his spot beside McGonagall.

"I don't know," she replied. "I saw him earlier. In fact he was the one who told me to come up here, all sinister and stuff."

"When is he not 'all sinister and stuff'?"

"True. He's probably waiting for Harry and Ron. I told McGonagall they'd be crashing in and she probably told Snape," Maddy predicted.

"Well, that's probably true. I hope they crash into the school and not a tree. Maybe they'll go right into the hallway that leads into the dungeons and we wont have to have potions until they fix it."

"I like the dungeons."

" _But_ you don't like potions. In fact, you hate potions. Would you rather spend time in the dungeons were there are lots of people who hate you even if you like it for some reason or would you rather not have potions."

"Not have potions," Maddy agreed. Then, the doors opened and McGonagall walked the first years into the Great Hall, all in a line and the majority of them staring around in awe. Maddy picked out Ginny from the crowd, she was much smaller than most of the other first years but she still stood out due to her bright red hair, but Maddy's eyes were soon drawn to an airy looking girl with curly hair so blonde it was almost white and her eyes were a silvery grey. She looked a lot like a daughter of Athena, except her hair was lighter than theirs and her facial structure was a bit different. Maybe she was a descendant of Athena, Maddy could definitely pick out some things very child of Athena like qualities.

The Sorting Hat sang a song that, while Maddy wasn't paying attention in the least, was quite obviously different than the previous year. Professor McGonagall then began to call out the first years the first being a Ravenclaw named Carrie Anderson. The only others Maddy noticed were a boy named Colin Creevey -Gryffindor- a girl named Amanda Jason -who she only noticed because she sat down beside her- the blonde girl, Luna Lovegood -Ravenclaw, why wasn't Maddy surprised?- and Ginny -Gryffindor, of course.

"Welcome, students new and old," Dumbledore grinned after the Sorting Hat had been taken away by McGonagall. " reminded me to remind you that there is a list of forbidden items on his door, and I would like to remind you that students are not permitted within the Forbidden Forest. Now, I would like to introduce the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart." There was an eruption of applause that was nearly deafening. Maddy and Elliot exchanged a look of disbelief. How could so many people be so taken with that ridiculous fool who had stood up and began to bow, saying something about autographs and how everyone should feel honoured to be taught by him.

"Why exactly was he hired?" Elliot asked. "I'm pretty sure everyone knows that he's a huge fake, half of his stories are fiction and the other half are stolen accounts from other people without their permission. He wipes their memories to avoid getting into trouble."

"How do you know that?" Maddy asked. "I mean, it's kind of obvious that he's a fake, no one that ridiculous, clumsy, self indulgent and idiotic could have done all of those things but how do you know exactly what he does?"

"He did it to one of my cousins, Priya Sri Chaudhary, it's the yeti one. But we lost contact with her a while before the book was published. She told us about it, she forgot about it a few days later, then a couple of months after that the book was published and we'd already lost contact with her."

"Wow, why don't you tell that to Hermione."

"Ah, is our dear sweet 'Mione among the many witches who've become disgustingly smitten with the dear old, faking Gilderoy Lockhart?"

"Yeah," Maddy nodded. "And you can say disgustingly again. What does anyone see in him?" Elliot shrugged. "I will never understand the type of people who get attracted to people get attracted to."

"Are you saying you've never had the tiniest crush on anyone?"

"First of all, gross. No. Second of all, we're twelve. Isn't that a bit young? Have you?"

"Well no, but I kind of tend to see everything horrible in a person before getting to know them so I'm not the type of person to develop crushes on people before getting to know them and well, I don't know anyone well enough yet."

"Wow, Elli," Maddy rolled her eyes as food began appear on the long tables. "You don't know me, Bell, Hermione, Harry and Ron _at all_."

"What? Like I'm supposed to say," Elliot cleared her throat and adopted a high pitched voice that greatly juxtaposed her unusually deep one. "'I'm in love with you, Mads. You're my best friend and I'm in love with you.'"

"Why _wouldn't_ you say that?"

"Because I am not a dumbass," Elliot began to pile food onto her plate.

"So you're saying that that's true?" Maddy quirked an eyebrow at her lanky friend.

"In your dreams."

"More like nightmares," Maddy snorted and Elliot flicked a tomato at her, hitting her in the forehead. "So uncouth!" Maddy gasped.

"Like you aren't."

"Oh, hold on," Maddy stopped the friend bickering and watched as the old professor cloaked in emerald left her spot. "McGonagall's getting up."

"Aww," Elliot frowned. "Harry and Ron didn't crash into the school. At least not hard enough to be noticeable from here. I wanted like a thud or something at least."

"I'm beginning to think you want all of our friends to die."

"No, I want to be entertained."

"And you'll take entertainment in anything even if it hurts or kills your friends?"

"Well I mean, entertainment's entertainment, I can't help who it hurts."

"Oh my gods. Why are we friends?"

"Because I'm the only thing keeping you from sleeping forever."

"Oh hell, I knew I was forgetting something!" Maddy exclaimed. "I can't believe I forgot to get an alarm clock this year."

"Eh, I'll get you one for Christmas. And I'll make sure all of our friends get you an alarm clock for Christmas too and nothing else. I'll do it, I'm telling you."

"Wow, it'll be a hell of a Christmas. How about we all just get each other alarm clocks and have an alarm clock party?"

"Yes. No going back. We're doing it and the only music is going to be our alarm clocks going off. It goes from noon until midnight and we do it once a month after we all get alarm clocks."

" _Why would I go back on that? That's amazing!_ "

"I'm glad you feel that way, then I won't have to kill you and use your body as my puppet to get others to agree with me," Elliot grinned.

"Wow, I see why I'm friends with you once again. That was a very twisted thing to say and, to be honest, you just went up even more in my ranking of friends. Now you're in second."

"Who's ahead of me? I'll surpass them."

"A friend from America. You'll never surpass Maude, she's been my friend since I was five and she was my first friend." There was a pause as the two ate, the Maddy began talking again. "How did we get here?"

"Well, I took a train and you ran for an inhuman amount of time," Elliot replied, stabbing a few green beans.

"No, I mean in our conversation."

"Oh good, I thought you'd gone mad," Elliot chuckled. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we talked about how you're madly in love with me and would... hold on, what was it that you said? You would 'throw yourself off a mountain into a deadly river' for me."

"Oh, right," Maddy nodded sarcastically. "There was also something about you killing me for disagreeing with you then becoming your puppet."

"And such a good puppet you would make too, Mads," Elliot reached her arm out and touched Maddy shoulder, remaining completely serious but obviously holding back a wide grin. Maddy flicked her friend's hand off of her shoulder. She almost replied but was distracted by McGonagall re-entering the Great Hall and then again by the meal food being replaced by desert. Maddy grabbed a miniature chocolate cake while Elliot chose a treacle tart.

"How much you want to bet Harry and Ron were expelled?" Elliot asked, a few bites into her warm, lightly coloured desert.

"Well, they stole a car and more than likely crashed it somewhere due to the fact that neither of them has had driving lessons and the one driving is Ron, who is a pureblood, so he probably doesn't spend a whole lot of time around cars, instead of Harry who undoubtedly grew up around cars because it is almost impossible to be alive in this time period in a western civilization and not be around cars, so they probably destroyed something as well as the car, so I think yes."

"So we can't bet on it since we both agree that they were probably expelled," Elliot sighed.

"Madeline," a slightly pompous voice said and Maddy turned to face the speaker. It was the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron. "Welcome back."

"You sound like those skeletal horses that pull the carriages," Maddy said.

"What skeletal horses?" Elliot asked.

"Ah, you mean the thestrals," the Bloody Baron said.

"Yeah, sure," Maddy said offhandedly.

"Madeline, I expect you to win the house cup for Slytherin this year."

"Why me? Also, Slytherin won for six years in a row, isn't that enough for a while?"

"Where's our house pride?" The Baron sounded almost offended.

"A deep dark, never ending abyss," Maddy stated, turning back to Elliot. The Bloody Baron scowled and floated on. The hall suddenly quieted down, Maddy looked up to see Dumbledore standing with his arms raised, the gesture he made to show everyone that he was about to speak.

He lowered his arms and spoke, "Now that the feast is done, and you all begin the first term first thing tomorrow, so I say goodnight, sleep tight and awake well rested. Now, off you trot!" Everyone began to stand up, the prefects called for the first years and everyone else began either meeting up with their friends in other houses or going to their common rooms. Maddy and Elliot met up with Bella and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Ginny, Fred and George were also waiting with them.

"Elliot and I think Harry and Ron were expelled," Maddy said.

"Well isn't that a great way to greet us," George said.

"It's the best way," Elliot said.

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Because they stole a car and probably destroyed it."

"But is it really considered stealing?" Fred asked.

"Yeah," George added. "It is our family car."

"Either way, neither of them has a driver's license- wait. Please tell me wizards have driver's licenses."

"Nope," Elliot grinned. Maddy groaned.

"That's stupid."

" _Why?_ " Hermione asked.

"It's just flying a car," Fred said.

"It isn't like apparating," George added.

"But still," Maddy said. "They probably broke multiple rules."

"McGonagall probably made them go straight to the common room," Fred said.

"After all, Harry's a star Quidditch player-" George began.

"-she would do anything to keep him in school-" Fred continued.

"-unless he did something _really_ bad," George finished matter of factly.

"Sounds like her," Elliot yawned. "Now, I'm tired so I'm going to go die in a hole. Come on, Mads, you can catch up with the friends in the morning."

"Bye the friends," Maddy waved as she left the Great Hall with Elliot at walked towards the dungeons.

"Oh hell, we didn't get the password," Elliot muttered when the pair stopped in front of the entrance to the common room.

"You never say the password anyway," Maddy said.

"Yeah but Snape might've listened to me."

"Oh right, that was an entertaining fight to watch," Maddy nodded, remembering the argument Elliot had had with Snape the previous year. "How long did you have detention for after that?"

"Nearly a month. It was _torture!_ Just me and a rag dusting off old trophies or me and Snape preparing for the next day's class. Wait- you watched the fight?"

"Yeah, I'd just gotten back from my detention and I listened in. I also got to wrestle Malfoy once he caught up to me."

"And he _didn't_ report that?"

"Nope! I think I scared him," Maddy grinned.

A black haired seventh year and a very similar looking second year shoved their past Maddy and Elliot, the older muttered something about 'blood traitors' and the younger something about 'wimps' then the older loudly said, "Pureblood."

"I cannot believe this!" Elliot exclaimed as the two walked into the common room, Maddy and Elliot following them. "After all that and the password is almost as bad as it was last year!"

"What's got poor, sensitive, blood traitor de la Mare upset now?" A horribly familiar drawling voice said from by the fireplace.

"Probably the password," Parkinson chuckled like a hyena. "I think it's sending the right message. Only purebloods deserve to be Slytherin, not blood traitors and orphaned half bloods."

"For your information," Elliot angrily started, suddenly not tired any more. "I am not a sensitive person, I just don't believe that stupid, horrible and unhealthy concepts like 'blood purity' should be what's widely believed to be 'the best'. Did you know that all of you are likely to develop a number of mental and physical maladies due to inbreeding? I bet at least two people in your stupid group, Malfoy, are already on the verge of experience a sudden bout of some autoimmune disease or a mental breakdown. Not to mention that 'blood purity' is the whole reason that the wizard population is depleting. If you just put in fresh blood wizards would live longer, be healthier, be happier and be more plentiful, but because of the idiot notion of blood purity wizards are depleting in numbers, living shorter lives -though, admittedly longer than muggles it's still shortening- and living a worse quality of life all because of inbreeding."

"You're a pureblood, de la Mare," Malfoy drawled. "The same applied to you."

"I think it's already affecting her," Maddy sighed. "She's a sociopath."

"I am not a sociopath."

"A borderline sociopath. She's very emotionally stunted."

Malfoy's gang were all chuckling and laughing, then Elliot suddenly snapped, "Hey, Parkinson, guess what Lockhart, your crush, is! A half blood!" She then turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving a stunned silent Parkinson, as well as the rest of the girls in the group and several of the boys who looked up to the fraud. Elliot walked back to her dormitory and Maddy to hers and she quickly changed into her black and green cotton pyjamas. She then flopped down onto her bed, closed the hangings and her thoughts began flying all over the place as she twisted and turned as she tried to fall asleep while not being even remotely tired.


	3. The Howler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't have the time to edit this chapter right before I post it like I usually do, so please excuse anything that doesn't make sense or typos or anything else like that.

**Chapter 3: The Howler**

Maddy stared down at her new timetable, sitting down at the Slytherin table, her mass amount of frizzy, pitch black hair completely messed up due to the lack of sleep she had along with the complete lack of caring about her appearance she had, though she had made sure her hair covered up her blinded eye, but it was practically covering her good eye was well. Her green and silver tie was tied but very poorly, not like it was ever tied  _ well _ , and her robes were falling off of her very narrow shoulders.

Elliot was sitting beside her, being too lazy to go around to the other side of the table as she usually did, and she looked equally as terrible as Maddy, her spiky, slightly longer than shoulder length, brown hair was even spikier than normal and she just looked all around dishevelled. She might have been a fairly self-indulgent and selfish person but she was a fairly self-indulgent and selfish person who didn’t care about her appearance whatsoever. Elliot was far more academically minded. The two girls stood out considerably from the rest of the Slytherins who were all nicely groomed and mostly wide awake.

“I’m gonna-I’m gonna fight,” Maddy said tiredly.

“Why?” Elliot was equally as tired.

“We’ve got Defence at noon, before lunch. I’m going to be extremely hungry, tired and irritable. I’ll probably bite off Lockhart’s head.”

“Oh, please do that. Then we wont have to deal with him past today.”

“No, he probably tastes disgusting. Like hair gel, glitter and-and deceit.”

“Does deceit have a taste?” Elliot asked. 

“I couldn’t think of anything else stupid and fake like him so I just went with deceit.”

“I bet it tastes pretty good actually, since normally you get people to see you better than what you are so it’s taste good.”

“No, see, El, deceit would taste good at first but then have a horrible aftertaste that lasts  _ way _ longer than the good taste. It’s all a metaphor for how a person's insides are more true, or lasting, or whatever, than what they display to be them. Maybe. I don’t actually know, I’m making this up as I go.”

“Speaking of insides, goat intestines are delicious.”

“Why? Why would you say that? Right now. At this exact moment. When I’m eating sausage links. Just why. Why have you even eaten goat intestines?”

“It’s a traditional de la Mare meal,” Elliot said. “And did you know that sausages are mostly pig anuses?” Maddy put down her food and glowered at her friend.

“Yes. I did know that, but I’d rather not me reminded of that while I’m  _ eating sausage _ .”

“But that’s the exact reason I did that, because I knew it would disturb you.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“You would do the same thing,” Elliot sang.

“Okay, yeah, I would.”

“Who’s the arsehole now?” She said smugly and bit into a biscuit.

“The sausages,” Maddy said bitterly. 

“True.”

“Why can’t there be something like coffee but not coffee? Like it tastes completely different but still wakes you up because I need that right now.”

“Why not coffee?”

“It’s disgustingly bitter.”

“Oh, I thought you would’ve loved coffee for that very reason.”

“My two favourite foods are caramel and milk chocolate. Why would you think that I like bitter things?”

“I’m too tired to think is why,” Elliot said.

“Okay, you get a pass for that. The next time you so much as suggest that I like coffee I’ll slit your throat with a butterknife. You’ll be like Sir Nicholas except your death’ll be more painful.”

“Sounds like a completely reasonable reaction. Let’s see what the others have. Also, I want to see exactly how much trouble Harry and Ron got in.”

“Alright,” The pair stood up and walked over to their Gryffindor friends. “Hello friends,” Maddy yawned. “What d’your timetable’s look like and how much trouble did you two morons get into?”

“Wow, rude,” Bella said. “And here’s the time table,” she handed her slip of paper that held the Gryffindor second years schedule for the year to Elliot who began to compare the Slytherin and Gryffindor schedules.

“We got detention,” Harry said.

“We thought we were going to be expelled,” Ron said. “There was an article in the  _ Daily Prophet _ .”

“We thought you were going to get expelled too,” Elliot said. Then, among the multitude of owls that were dropping letters and packages a red letter was dropped in front of Ron. Neville Longbottom, who was sitting across from Hermione paled, as did Ron while Elliot began laughing.

“Oh no,” Ron muttered.

“This should be entertaining. Howler’s always are.”

“What’s a Howler?” Harry asked.

“You better open it,” Neville said.

“No! Let it burst into flames!” Elliot exclaimed. Ron moved to open the flame red envelope and, with long, shaking fingers, opened it, upon opening it the letter began to speak, well, yell.

“-STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY’D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON’T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE-” Mrs.Weasley's yells, a hundred times louder than usual, made the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that only his crimson forehead could be seen. “-LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN’T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED-” At this Harry went incredibly red and started acting like he couldn’t hear the loud letter. “-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED -YOUR FATHER’S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT’S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE’LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.” 

A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron’s hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. Harry and Ron sat stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over them. A few people laughed -Elliot among them- and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again. Hermione closed  _ Voyages with Vampires _ and looked down at the top of Ron’s head. 

“Well, I don’t know what you expected, Ron, but you-”

“Don’t tell me I deserved it,” snapped Ron.

“You were right, El,” Maddy said as Elliot’s loud laughter died down. “That was entertaining.”

“Why are we friends with you two?” Ron asked.

“Because we’re the best,” Elliot replied. “Anyways, we had Potions, Defence, History and Astronomy together.” She handed Bella back her timetable.

“Exactly how tired are you two?” Bella asked as she took back her timetable, noticing the bags under their eyes, well Maddy always had bags under her eyes now.

“Not at all anymore.”

“We were both about to drop before the Howler,” Maddy said.

“Why?” She asked.

“I screwed up my sleeping schedule,” Elliot said offhandedly. “I also spent a lot of the summer with family in Nepal. Never again.”

“For me it’s that sleep schedule thing combined with just not sleeping well,” Maddy said. “Well, we have double Transfiguration, come on, El. It’s time for us to die.”

“See you,” Elliot said and the two Slytherins left for their first class, entering the Transfiguration room and taking seats in the front of the class as they were no longer on the verge of collapsing, Transfiguration was the only class, other than Charms on occasion, that they would sit at the front because Maddy found it to be an interesting subject and very practical, not a lot of theory work is involved and Elliot had some ‘trouble’ with Transfiguration as she focused more on other things the previous year, like Defence Against the Dark Arts because of the lackluster lessons and Potions because she couldn’t afford to do bad in the class, even though she’d still passed the exam with flying colours the previous year she still insisted that she was bad at the subject when she was actually better than a lot of the people in the class.

They also sat at the front on this particular day instead of the back, which they would have honestly preferred in this instance due to both of the likelihood of their tiredness returning and the fact that the first class of transfiguration tended to be lecturing and going over what would be covered over the year, because that would mean sitting by Malfoy and his cronies. They decided dealing with McGonagall reprimanding them for falling asleep, as would probably happen, at least with Maddy, was better than Malfoy and his oafs.

Maddy somehow managed not to fall asleep during the lesson, most likely due to the fact that McGonagall would raise her voice everytime she saw someone beginning to fall asleep and would promptly ask them a question pertaining to the lesson, most of the time it was Maddy falling asleep and Maddy getting the questions, none of which she knew the answer to.

After Transfiguration they had Herbology, Maddy and Elliot made their way across the vegetable patch and ran into Harry, Ron and Hermione on the way. They quickly told the two Slytherins about how Lockhart had been boasting about knowing how to fix a Whomping Willow before class and then pulled Harry aside to talk to him about fame, insinuating multiple times that he had flown the Weasley’s flying Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow in order to be on the front page of the  _ Daily Prophet _ again after the incident at Flourish and Blotts. Hermione tried to defend the flashy, fake wizard, but was met with lots of backlash from her friends, Elliot was just about to tell her about her cousin who’d been subjected to Lockhart tactics of getting stories but Hermione quickly reminded the Gryffindors that they had to get to Transfiguration and they ran off in a hurry.

When Maddy and Elliot had made it to the greenhouses Professor Sprout announced to the crowd of second year Slytherins and Ravenclaws that they would be in Greenhouse three. The second years clad in green, blue, silver and black flooded into the third greenhouse, excited and curious as they normally wouldn’t enter the third greenhouse until third year or, if they were ahead of schedule, towards the end of that year.

Once everyone sat down, Maddy was at the table closest to the door, Elliot was also at that table, as were two Ravenclaws, Professor Sprout announced, “We’ll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?” There were many hands that shot up, Maddy’s three tablemates included. She called on the Ravenclaw boy, Santiago Gonzalez, sitting beside her.

“Mandrakes are powerful restoratives and are part of the Mandragora genus,” he reported. “It is an important ingredient in many antidotes and most often used with people who have been cursed or transfigured to turn them back to their original state.”

“Correct, ten points to Ravenclaw,” Sprout nodded. “And while they are helpful in many ways they are also dangerous, can anyone tell me why?” Hands shot up again, this time Elliot was called on.

“The cry of a fully grown Mandrake is fatal and Mandrakes are only useful when fully grown,” she replied.

“Precisely, ten points to Slytherin,” Sprout nodded once again as several people shared worried looks, obviously not wanting to die due to a plant. “Now, the Mandrakes we have are not fully grown, so their cries are not fatal, however, if you hear them you will pass out. We are going to wear earmuffs in order to prevent this,” she gestured to a box filled with different coloured earmuffs, Maddy was able to make out several different colours and didn’t doubt that there were more she couldn’t see as she was both incredibly short and the furthest person away from the front of the greenhouse. “Everyone, grab an earmuff.”

Everyone surged forward, not wanting to get one of the more garish ones, Maddy scowled as she made her way back to her seat, Elliot smugly smirking at her friend’s misfortune in getting the most garish colour, a neon yellow. Elliot had gotten a very nice shade of green and was rubbing her thumbs into the fluffy spots.

“Nice earmuffs,” she said as Maddy sat down.

“I told you to get me some if you got up there before me for this exact reason,” Maddy replied.

“Mads, you know me. You know full well I would never do that unless I got something better than not garishly coloured earmuffs.”

“You’re a terrible friend.”

“How many times do we have to have this conversation? I’m no worse than you.”

“El,” Maddy began. “Last year I nearly died because I decided to stick with our friends during several deadly tasks. I  _ broke _ my ribs over my  _ heart _ .”

“Yeah, but I had pretty good reasons not to go. You know, not wanting to be eaten by a giant three headed dog and all.”

“When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are completely covered,” said Professor Sprout. “When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs up. Right, earmuffs on.”

Maddy snapped on her neon yellow earmuffs, taking a moment to situate them over her ears, as did the others in the greenhouse. Maddy wasn’t able to hear anything, so she turned towards Professor Sprout, just as she gripped the stem of one of the Mandrakes and yanked it upwards. What was under the dirt surprised Maddy as what was there wasn’t a system of roots as most plants had but a screaming, ugly, pudgy baby with pale green skin. Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunged the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible. Professor Sprout dusted off her hands, gave them all the thumbs-up, and removed her own earmuffs. 

“As I said earlier, our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won’t kill yet,” she said calmly as though she’d just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. “However, they will knock you out for several hours, and as I’m sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it is time to pack up.

“Four to a tray -there is a large supply of pots here- compost in the sacks over there. And be careful of the Venomous Tentacula, it’s teething.” She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.

“Wow, I almost feel bad that these things may or may not die,” Maddy said as she and the rest of the class stood up to get their trays of Mandrakes.

“Why do you think it’ll die?” Elliot asked.

“They always do,” Maddy shrugged. “I wish they didn’t but I just don’t have a green thumb. It’s more shrivelled and grey. Possibly completely black even.”

“What are you two talking about?” Priam Doctor, the other Ravenclaw at Maddy’s table asked, eyes wide and eyebrows knit. “Before you were talking about almost dying and now shrivelled thumbs!”

“It’s personal stuff,” Elliot replied. Doctor sent them a strange look. After that, Sprout had them put their earmuffs back on, so they couldn’t talk anymore and instead focused on repotting the young Mandrakes, which, despite how easy Sprout had made it look it was actually incredibly difficult. While Sprout simply had to pull it out and stuffed it back into the pot, the Mandrakes that Maddy, and everyone else, got resisted getting pulled out of the dirt and getting put back into it. It would flail and kick and punch with it’s tiny, ugly, green fists.

“That’s probably the only Herbology class I haven’t liked yet,” Maddy grumbled as she and Elliot left the green house.

“That’s the only lesson I’ve liked,” Elliot said.

“You only liked it because you managed to take off Malfoy’s ear muffs without anyone noticing while he was repotting one of his Mandrakes.”

“You can’t say that that wasn’t amusing.”

“That-you would be right. I was amusing,” Maddy chuckled and Elliot smirked. “But now we’ve got Defence. Oh gods, I’m going to die. Leave me alone in Arizona, I’d rather that than deal with Lockhart.”

“Why Arizona?” Elliot asked.

“It’s practically a desert, it’s awful, I had to stay there a while once, I still tasted sand in my mouth two months after.”

“I know where I’m never going.”

They continued on their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts, stopping when they saw Ron, Hermione and Harry, who was being talked to by a first year Gryffindor with a large, out of date camera. Harry seemed very uncomfortable.

“So I can prove I’ve met you,” said the young Gryffindor eagerly, edging further forward. “I know all about you. Everyone’s told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you’ve still got a lightning scar on your forehead“and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures’ll move.” Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, “It’s amazing here, isn’t it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad’s a milkman, he couldn’t believe it either. So I’m taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it’d be really good if I had one of you maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?” 

“ _ Signed photos? You’re giving out signed photos, Potter? _ ” Loud and scathing, Draco Malfoy’s voice echoed around the courtyard. He had stopped right behind Colin, flanked, as he always was at Hogwarts, by his large and thuggish cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. 

“Everyone line up!” Malfoy roared to the crowd. “Harry Potter’s giving out signed photos!” 

“No, I’m not,” said Harry angrily, his fists clenching. “Shut up, Malfoy.” 

“You’re just jealous,” piped up Colin, whose entire body was about as thick as Crabbe’s neck. 

“Jealous?” said Malfoy, who didn’t need to shout anymore: Half the courtyard was listening in. “Of what? I don’t want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don’t think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself.” Crabbe and Goyle were sniggering stupidly. 

“Eat slugs, Malfoy,” said Ron angrily. Crabbe stopped laughing and started rubbing his knuckles in a menacing way. 

“Be careful, Weasley,” sneered Malfoy. “You don’t want to start any trouble or your mommy’ll have to come and take you away from school.” He put on a shrill, piercing voice. “ _ If you put another toe out of line _ -” A knot of Slytherin fifth years nearby laughed loudly at this. 

“Weasley would like a signed photo, Potter,” smirked Malfoy. 

“It’d be worth more than his family’s whole house-” 

Ron whipped out his Sellotaped wand and Maddy suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Malfoy by his collar, Hermione quickly shut  _ Voyages with Vampires _ with a snap and whispered, “Look out!”

“What’s all this, what’s all this?” Gilderoy Lockhart was striding toward them, his turquoise robes swirling behind him. “Who’s giving out signed photos?” Harry started to speak but he was cut short as Lockhart flung an arm around his shoulders and thundered jovially, “Shouldn’t have asked! We meet again, Harry!” 

Harry was pinned to Lockhart’s side and bright red with what Maddy suspected to be humiliation.

“Come on then, Mr.Creevey,” said Lockhart, beaming at the first year. “A double portrait, can’t do better than that, and we’ll both sign it for you.” Creevey fumbled for his camera.

“Actually,” Elliot began, stopping Creevey just before he took a picture. “Harry’s a historic figure so he’ll melt if you take a picture of him with such a camera.” Everyone looked at her weirdly but before anyone could say anything the bell for classes rang and Creevey was running down the hall.

“Let go of me, Mender!” Malfoy suddenly exclaimed.

“I’ll think about it,” she replied smugly.

“Now, now, Miss Mender,” Lockhart said. “Put down Mr.Malfoy.” She dropped the blond git, who glowered at her but scrambled into the classroom.

“A word to the wise, Harry,” said Lockhart paternally as they entered the building through a side door. “I covered up for you back there with young Creevey, if he was photographing me, too, your schoolmates won’t think you’re setting yourself up so much...” Deaf to Harry’s stammers, Lockhart swept him down a corridor lined with staring students and up a staircase. “Let me just say that handing out signed pictures at this stage of your career isn’t sensible, looks a tad big headed, Harry, to be frank. There may well come a time when, like me, you’ll need to keep a stack handy wherever you go, but-” he gave a little chortle “-I don’t think you’re quite there yet.”

“He’s even more arrogant than I expected,” Elliot murmured.

“Where’s Bella?” Maddy asked Hermione.

“McGonagall wanted her to stay after,” Ron said.

“Why?”

“She nearly killed someone after they said something about Harry being an attention hog for being in the  _ Daily Prophet _ .”

“That’s amazing,” Elliot said. “And,  _ Hermione _ ,  _ why _ do you have  _ hearts _ outlining all of this big headed arsehole’s classes?” Hermione blushed darkly.

“He’s a teacher,” she hissed as she quickly stowed away her timetable. “You  _ can’t _ call him that!”

“After he stole my cousin’s memories I think I have a right to do so, also it’s kind of obvious, do you see how he’s acting with Harry?”

“I doubt he stole-”

“The yeti book-”

“ _ Year with the Yeti _ ,” Hermione corrected.

“Whatever, that’s actually all stuff my cousin did. She told us about it and a few days later she couldn’t remember a thing.”

“But-”

“It’s too late, Hermione, we’re in class!” Elliot exclaimed as she sat down and began aiming her copy of  _ Break with a Banshee _ -written in a different language- at Malfoy’s head, but never actually throwing it. Hermione huffed as she sat down in the front row, the seat beside her empty but the table beside her was occupied by the extremely excited Gryffindors Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Ron and Harry sat down at the table behind Hermione and Maddy sat down beside Elliot in the third row, right behind Harry. Bella entered a minute later and sat down beside Hermione, she didn’t seem to know what to think of Lockhart.

“You could’ve fried an egg on your face,” said Ron. “You’d better hope Creevey doesn’t meet Ginny, or they’ll be starting a Harry Potter fan club.” 

“Shut up,” snapped Harry.

“Harry Potter fan club,” Elliot whispered, smirking.

“The last thing I need is for Lockhart to hear that!” He hissed.

“Harry Potter fan club,” Elliot said a little louder, smirk growing.

“Again, why are we friends?”

“Harry Potter fan club,” Elliot said even louder. Harry sighed and turned around. “Harry Potter fan club.”

Once the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up Neville Longbottom’s copy of  _ Travels with Trolls _ , and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front. “Me,” he said, pointing at it and winking as well. 

“Good job,” Maddy muttered under her breath as if she was talking to a three year old who’d just spelled their own name. Thankfully, Lockhart didn’t hear her.

“Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of  _ Witch Weekly _ ’s Most-Charming-Smile Award -but I don’t talk about that. I didn’t get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!” He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly, Elliot changed the direction of her copy of  _ Break with a Banshee _ to target Lockhart instead of Malfoy.

“I see you’ve all bought a complete set of my books -well done. I thought we’d start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about- just to check how well you’ve read them, how much you’ve taken in-” 

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, “You have thirty minutes - start - now!” 

Maddy looked over her test and managed to make out the first three questions before not taking this not nearly as seriously as she had before, and that was saying something as she hadn’t taken it seriously at all before.

  1. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color?_
  2. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition?_
  3. _What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date?_



On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to

  1. _When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?_



Maddy thought hard on what to do here and then began to write:

  1. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color?_



** ξεράσει ελληνικά **

  1. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition?_



** Για να γίνει μια νεράιδα **

  1. _What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date?_



** Ζώντας με αυτό το γιγάντιο εγωισμό **

And on and on the answers went, all in Greek, all ridiculous. Maddy looked on Elliot paper, she was simply doodling all over it. The tall Slytherin looked at Maddy’s as well and smirked.

“What does that say?” She asked quietly after Lockhart took up their papers.

“One: puke green, two: to become a fairy, three: surviving with that giant ego,” Maddy recited. “And it goes on and on to that tone.”

“That’s brilliant. Wonder what he’ll do when he comes across one written completely in some foreign language.”

“It’s Greek.”

“Why do you know Greek?”

“I lived in Greece for a while,” she lied. “A muggle orphanage exchange program thing,” she knew she could say this without worrying about whether or not orphanages did that since Elliot was a pureblood.

Lockhart sat back down at his desk and when he was almost done there were two papers that he began panicking upon looking at he was utterly confused, Maddy knew it was hers and Elliot’s, they shared a grin at this moment.

Half an hour after the tests had been taken up Lockhart stood up, cleared his throat and began speaking, “Tut, tut - hardly any of you remembered that my favorite colour is lilac. I say so in  _ Year with the Yeti _ . And a few of you need to read  _ Wanderings with Werewolves _ more carefully, I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples, though I wouldn’t say no to a large bottle of Ogden’s Old Firewhiskey!”

He gave them a roguish wink. Ron and Harry was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Gryffindors Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter. Hermione, on the other hand, was listening to Lockhart with rapt attention and gave a start when he mentioned her name.

“...but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions, good girl!”

“It’s hardly a secret if he published it in his books,” Elliot muttered.

“In fact-” he flipped her paper over “-full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?” Hermione raised a trembling hand. “Excellent!” beamed Lockhart. “Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so, to business-” Elliot raised her hand. “Yes, Miss-?”

“De la Mare. I was wondering how any of these questions about  _ you _ relate to learning how to defend ourselves against the dark arts,” she replied coolly, several people turned to stare at her in either admiration for asking what they’d all been wondering or with a hurt and aggressive expression for questioning their new professor that nearly every girl had a disgusting crush on.

“Well-” Lockhart began, his ego had seemed to deflate just a tad but not extremely noticeable.

“Also, you mentioned  _ Year with the Yeti _ and  _ Wanderings with Werewolves _ ,” she sneered at the ridiculous names.

“Yes,” he nodded. “Do you like those in particular?”

“On the contrary, I’m sure this has been pointed out to you many times before but you say that you were able to change the Wagga Wagga Werewolf back into human form with a charm, but that’s impossible, there is no such spell that exists now, even in books of ancient magics it mentions nothing of a spell like that, neither does it in any encyclopedia of every spell.” Lockhart began spluttering, fighting for an explanation. 

“Now, one that I’m sure hasn’t been pointed out before but you may have been accused of it, I’m not sure I don’t really follow you in the news,” Elliot continued, a little cruelly. “First I would like to ask you, have you heard of the Nepali pureblood Priya Sri Chaudhary?” Lockhart paled. “I thought so,” Elliot nodded. “Well, I’ll have you know that she’s my cousin, and would you happen to know what she told my family and miraculously forgot about several days later? Your yeti story, except your way of defeating it is impossible and utterly stupid, you can’t give a yeti a head cold, just the fact that you thought that passed as publishable information is appalling, however, everything else is the same as what my dear cousin Priya did.”

At this point Lockhart had turned a violent shade of fuschia and was stammering endlessly, going nowhere with his speech, and nearly everyone in the room was gaping at Elliot for varying reasons.

“Why do you know that stuff about lycanthropes?” Maddy asked. “And when have you looked through ancient texts?”

“Every pureblood family has a library  _ somewhere _ , I just happen to read a lot, or hadn't you noticed?”

“I cannot believe-” Hermione stammered. “How could you-”

“I speak only in the languages of brutal truths and sarcasm, Mione,” Elliot replied dismissively. “Everything I just said was completely and utterly true. Although, I do believe I'll be having a talk with either Dumbledore or Snape about this incident. I would quite like a talk with Dumbledore about his selections of teachers anyway, we've had truly awful teachers and this class is  _ supposed _ to be the best.”

Hermione hurled around with a belligerent huff, and tentatively said to the incompetent Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, “Professor Lockhart, could you perhaps go on with the lesson? Elliot just likes cruelly messing with people.”

“I speak only in sarcasm and  _ brutal truths _ , Hermione!” Elliot exclaimed. “What isn't clear about that!”

“Please, professor? The rest of us would love to listen to your lesson.” This seemed to brighten up the ignoramus and return his pompous and egomaniacal attitude.

“Very well,” he swept back to his desk in a very showy way with a sweep of his bright robe.

“Great job, you reversed everything I've done,” Elliot hissed at Hermione. “I rather preferred him as a blubbering idiot than a speaking, pompous fool.”

“Yeah,” Ron nodded.

“Quiet please!” Lockhart demanded as he pulled up what looked like a cage covered in a blue blanket from behind his desk. “Now, as I am the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher it is my job to expose you to the most dangerous creatures in the magical world.” He then pulled off the blanket as if he were revealing something dramatic and exciting, it was just a cage of blue pixies that seemed to be on a sugar high. A few people gasped upon seeing the pixies but they seemed to get over it rather quickly. “ _ Freshly caught Cornish Pixies!” _

Seamus Finnigan let out a snort of laughter, Elliot was lazily spinning what Maddy recognised to be  _ Holidays with Hags _ as if it was a basketball and had also, somehow, gone back to aiming  _ Wanderings with Werewolves _ at various people, mostly Lockhart, Hermione was on the edge of her seat, watching intently, Bella seemed to be suppressing laughter, her lips quivering and Neville looked very anxious.

“Yes?” Lockhart looked to Seamus.

“Well, they aren't very  _ dangerous _ or impressive, are they?” The Gryffindor replied.

“Don't be sure! Devilish and tricky little blighters they can be! Right, then,” Lockhart said loudly. “Let’s see what you make of them!” And he opened the cage.

The Cornish Pixies flew out of the cage and Lockhart made a mad dash for his office door, just barely making it in before a pixie grabbed his elegant robes.

It was complete and utter pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville    
by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling. The only person unperturbed by the pixies was Elliot, who was actually _ messing _ with them, she had her wand out and it was as if it had a grip on one of the pixie's legs and was making it dance around, twirl around and spin madly.

“Come on now -round them up, round them up, they’re only pixies,” Lockhart shouted, poking his head out of his office. He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, “ _ Peskipiksi Pesternomi _ !” It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window. He immediately retreated back into his office.

“Elliot, I know you know how to stop this!” Maddy exclaimed, holding down the hair that was placed over her face as the pixies pulled at her frizzy curls.

“Yeah,” Elliot drawled lazily. “But this is more fun, besides, Malfoy’s getting his hair pulled and it's very entertaining.” Maddy groaned.

The bell for lunch rang and every dashed for the door, some in such a haste they forgot all their things. Elliot, Maddy, Bella, Harry, Ron and Hermione were the last in the room and upon hearing Lockhart say he wanted them to round up the final pixies Maddy and Elliot ran out the door before they  _ had _ to. They expected their Gryffindor friends to run with them, but then realized, no they were Gryffindor, of course they'd stay no matter how horrible it was.

They shrugged and moved on to the Great Hall, far too hungry to bother with going back into the hell that was Lockhart's classroom. Elliot was hoping to run into Dumbledore so she wouldn't have to walk up to his seat in the Great Hall or his office, but they didn't.

The Slytherin girls quickly ate, Maddy because she was starving and never ate much and Elliot because she wanted to go ahead and slash with the headmaster. Once she finished eating, Elliot wordlessly stood up and walked away.


	4. Deathday Parties and Parselmouths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is a day late. I blame school. At least it isn't like a week late, though. Anyways, I love this chapter.

**Chapter 4: Deathday Parties and Parselmouths**

Over the next few days there had been Quidditch try outs, Bella became the reserve Seeker -a much needed one- and Ron became the reserve Keeper, and Lockhart seemed to grow more obnoxious, Elliot tried to reason with Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall about getting him sacked but none of them would comply, though both Snape and McGonagall had agreed that he should be, especially after hearing Elliot's extraordinarily detailed retelling of the first class, though there obvious agreements only went so far as sniff from Snape and a shake of the head and a sigh from McGonagall.

At breakfast, an owl dropped a note of Elliot's eggs and she moodily unfolded it, read it over, groaned, sighed, looked up from the letter with an irritated glare and said, "We need to go to Hagrid's."

"Why?" Maddy asked.

"Dunno," Elliot shrugged. "Apparently it's urgent. Harry, Ron, Bella and Hermione are there." Maddy sighed and the two stood, making their way to the gamekeeper's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Fang was barking loudly and Elliot didn't have the common decency and sense of not offending people most people had so, instead of knocking, she slammed the door open, pulled Maddy in and closed the door.

"What happened?" The very rude Slytherin asked, agitated and in a mood due to tiredness and just general 'waking up on the wrong side of the bed' stuff. Her question was soon answered by Ron leaning over and hurling in a bucket.

"Oh disgusting," Maddy groaned. "Why'd you call us here?"

"Really, we can't help," Elliot shook her head. "Also it's just gross. Bet you just called us here to see us get very uncomfortable."

"You try throwing up slugs and see how you like it," Ron muttered sourly.

"Slugs?" Maddy asked. "I don't know if that's better or worse than regular sick."

"I'm going to go with worse," Harry winced as Ron hurled again.

"What happened?"

"Malfoy called Hermione a 'mudblood,'" Hagrid said darkly. Elliot's jaw clenched and get hand baked up into tight fists, Maddy wasn't exactly sure what a 'mudblood' was but she could figure it out quite easily going off of Elliot's reaction, who had said it and who it had been said to. She came to the conclusion that it was a horribly derogatory term for someone who was muggle born.

"And Ron tried to use his broken wand to hex him," Bella said. "It would've been great to see Malfoy getting sick with slugs, but alas. I did manage to push him into the line of fire though."

"Oh, so that's what that commotion was," Maddy nodded. "Malfoy was _really_ mad about that."

"He woke me up with his storming around," Elliot grumbled.

"Oh, I've got something to show you," Hagrid said suddenly, and lead them out to his yard, where twelve, giant pumpkins were growing. "It's for the Halloween Feast."

"Hagrid," Maddy started. "Can I live in one of those pumpkins?"

"I want to become James and the Giant Peach but with pumpkins, suddenly," Bella said.

"What have you been feeding them?" Harry asked.

"Well... I've been giving them a bit of... help," Hagrid replied more than a little awkwardly, nudging his pink umbrella.

"You've done a good job on then," Hermione said. "The engorgement charm, right?" Hagrid nodded.

"I really don't know why but standing beside really big pumpkins just makes me want to live in a gourd!" Bella exclaimed.

"Me too, Bella," Maddy nodded.

At around lunch time Ron had stopped throwing up slugs so they made their way back up to the castle, they were stopped by Professor McGonagall just outside of the Great Hall.

"There you are, Potter, Weasley." Professor McGonagall was walking toward them, looking stern. "You will both do your detentions this evening."

"What're we doing, Professor?" said Ron, nervously.

"You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch," said Professor McGonagall. "And no magic, Weasley, elbow grease." Ron gulped. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was loathed by every student in the school.

"And you, Potter, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail," said Professor McGonagall.

"Professor, can't I go and do the trophy room, too?" said Harry desperately.

"Certainly not," said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "Professor Lockhart requested you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp, both of you." Elliot began laughing but stopped when McGonagall snapped, "Miss de la Mare, Professor Snape has informed me to tell you that you are to serve detention as well."

"Oh, but why?" Elliot asked.

"Because Professor Snape and I find your behaviour with Professor Lockhart to be unacceptable."

"But you _both_ agreed with me!"

"While Professor Lockhart may be a poor teacher that doesn't mean you can disrespect him. You'll be meeting him at eight to help with lesson plans since you seem to think you know so much."

"Alright," Elliot sighed. When McGonagall was out of earshot and Harry and Ron were complaining about their detentions she said, "I suppose I'm lucky, I'm technically on an O.W.L. level for Defence."

" _Why_? _How_?" Bella asked.

"Pureblood family. _Big_ library."

* * *

At a bit past eight, Elliot arrived at Lockhart's door, she pushed it open without knocking and saw Lockhart and Harry sitting behind a desk with a large pile of cards, envelopes and letters. Lockhart had been grinning and incessantly talking about one of the fan mail senders, Harry was grimacing and had an expression like he'd was sucking on a lemon but wasn't allowed to purse his lips. That was distress, right? Perhaps despair? Either way it didn't matter, it was something negative either way and she was sure it was impossible to feel any other type of emotion around the oblivious, blithering idiot of a professor unless you were completely deluded. Somehow, Hermione had succeeded at this, along with many other girls who, for some reason, fancied this man. It was a little sickening.

"Ah, Miss de la Mare," Lockhart said in a tone Elliot believed to be cheerful but it was quite plainly a fake cheerfulness, she was sure he didn't like her after the moment in class, it'd probably been Snape or McGonagall's idea for this detention. Lockhart showed her his lessons plans and told her what to do, she sat down and began revising everything he'd written. Elliot was fairly certain that this might have been organized both because whoever did choose this knee she'd dislike it for the simple boringness of it and because they actually wanted the students to learn something.

She finished rather quickly, then was told to revise the first years lessons, then she went on to the third years, the fourth years and finally the fifth years, she even looked over the N.E.W.T. level courses to make sure he hadn't made any simple mistakes. He had. For once she was kind of glad that Quirrell had been such a horrible teacher, she'd thought that there'd never be a competent Defence teacher so she'd begun to spend all her time working on that over the summer, though, to be fair, she had already been ahead before First Year.

While Elliot was working on the fifth years lessons and Lockhart was blathering on about some book she heard an odd voice. It was cold, filled with venom, it sent chills down her spine.

" _Come… come to me… Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you…_ "

Hmm... Parseltongue. Some snake was apparently planning on killing something.

" _What?_ " Harry suddenly asked, interrupting Lockhart. He seemed startled, alarmed maybe even a little scared? Elliot couldn't say, emotions weren't her thing. She didn't really understand them for the most part unless she was feeling them at the moment or it was a familiar emotion. She supposed that was why Maddy had so lovingly called her a sociopath, even if it wasn't correct. She felt emotions she just didn't recognize or understand them.

"I know. _Six months_ at bestseller!" Lockhart exclaimed energetically. "Broke all records!"

"No," Harry shook his head. "That voice." Was Harry a parselmouth too?

"Sorry? What voice?"

"That-that voice."

"Perhaps its just Miss de la Mare, Miss Granger did say she enjoys messing with people!"

"Oh yes, I just managed to speak at the right volume for Harry to hear everything clearly while you could hear nothing," Elliot rolled her eyes.

Lockhart soon dismissed them because they heard the voice again, and Harry stupidly brought it up again. Really it was no wonder that boy wasn't in Ravenclaw, it was, however, a wonder that Lockhart had been when he was in school.

"You-you heard that voice too, right?" Harry asked as they walked down the hall from the Defence room.

"Yes," Elliot nodded. "You shouldn't have brought it up, people don't take too kindly to parselmouths after You-Know-Who."

"Parsel- wait what?" He asked, utterly confused.

"Snake language, Harry, you can understand and talk to snakes, it's normally only in the line of people related to Salazar Slytherin, which I am, but the reason I don't normally tell people is because it's a _dark magic_ , which means it's illegal."

"Illegal?" Harry asked, bewildered.

" _Yes_ , they don't really enforce it when it comes to parselmouths because it isn't something someone chooses but it can still have bad consequences, people'll start thinking your the next You-Know-Who or something because he was the last _open_ parselmouth. Don't tell _anyone_ about it and if you put yourself out, don't you dare out me. Night, Harry," she waved and walked of towards the dungeons, fairly certain Harry was just a bit scared and more than a little confused.

Upon reaching the entrance to the Slytherin common room Elliot slid down to a sitting position, well aware that she was most likely going to be waiting all night. She didn't mind though. She may have been emotionally stunted -or whatever it was that she was- but that didn't hinder her view that everyone deserves equality unless they actually _did_ something to get less than the others. She has to fight the urge to punch the portrait of Elizabeth Burke, telling her to be 'nasty to mudbloods' and judging her for not just saying the password as Elliot slowly drifted away into sleep.

* * *

October rolled around accompanied with a damp chill. Meaning illnesses. Maddy hated sickness. It made her nervous, she never wanted to be sick, it was uncomfortable and gross and all around horrible.

Three days into the month, Maddy first knew something was wrong when she woke up on her own, dormitory completely empty and not a sound being made that could wake her up. The next hint was when she suddenly felt incredibly nauseous, she decided, no, she would not move that day, she would stay in her bed and sleep off this illness. Illnesses were going around and though she knew it would be easier to just go get some Pepperup potion from Madam Pomfrey she really didn't feel like it. Maybe she could just get a bit of ambrosia or nectar from her bag? That sounded like a good plan.

She told herself to move but she didn't, she just resolved to go back to sleep.

The next time he woke up she thought there wasn't a reason at first, but then she felt something steadily thumping against her bed and some boredly drawling out the word 'up' at an honestly unnecessarily slow rate.

"Finally," Elliot sighed. "I refuse to deal with Lockhart alone. I need you to help me mess with him."

"I'm sick," Maddy muttered.

"I figure that out, get a Pepperup potion and go to at least Defence otherwise someone might die. Probably Lockhart, and as amazing as that would be, I'd be in Azkaban and that would suck." Maddy was much too tired and ill feeling to wonder what Azkaban was, then she was suddenly standing. How had she gotten to her feet? Had Elliot pulled her up? Whatever, she sighed and began walking towards the hospital wing, feeling even worse and a bit like she's lost a war even if she had barely even tried to do anything to stay in her bed.

The minute she walked into the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey had shoved a bottle of pepperup potion into Maddy's hands and telling her to drink up. Her ears began smoking once she finished the bottle, she'd forgotten about that nifty little side effect that would last for hours. She should have just had a little bit of ambrosia and been done with it. Then again, she wasn't sure if ambrosia could be used in that way as a child of Apollo has always been there to heal her. Oh well, too late now.

She really didn't want to go to class and, thankfully, Madam Pomfrey made her stay until she felt better even if she 'didn't have a fever' by most people's standards. Which meant she had a fever. Hooray for having a naturally obscenely low body temperature. She hoped Madam Pomfrey didn't check up on her temperature at all, that'd be hard to explain.

When Maddy left the hospital wing several hours and no arguments involving her normal body temperature later she was feeling quite a lot better, and she'd avoided classes for the day, that worked out well. As she trekked through the castle to the Great Hall she was stopped by the Gryffindor house ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. He looked excited about something.

"Ah, Madeline!" He said gleefully. "Just the person I wanted to see."

"Oh?" Maddy asked.

"Yes, in light of my upcoming deathday and the growing likelihood that I will be accepted into the Headless Hunt, I would like to invite you to my deathday party."

"I'd love to go," Maddy smiled, truthfully, she always wanted to go to a deathday party. They seemed as if they could be incredibly interesting. "And I wish you luck on joining the Headless Hunt," she said, even though she was fairly certain that he wouldn't get in, they really were quite a fickle lot.

Nick was delighted at this and quickly informed the daughter of Hades where and when the party would be held and she continued on to the Great Hall.

When Maddy sat down she got a hard slap on the back of her head from Elliot.

"What was that for?" Maddy asked, rubbing the back of her head in an attempt to get rid of the nearly nonexistent pain Elliot had caused.

"You said you'd go to Defence Against the Dark Arts," Elliot scowled.

"Yeah, well I was going and Madam Pomfrey made me stay until she was sure I was feeling better. I _just_ got out."

"Boo hoo, you're the one who chose to be sick," Elliot said completely seriously, lacking her usual tone of sarcasm or mocking seriousness.

"You're joking right?" Maddy raised an eyebrow.

"No, whenever I start feeling bad I just will it to go away."

"Well, I don't know what that's about but nobody else can do that."

"Well, they must just be weak willed," Elliot said flatly.

"Oh my gods, El, you're being ridiculous," Maddy held back a smile at her friend's ludicrousness as she began serving herself some of the delicious looking, as always, food.

* * *

"I wish we could be at the feast," Harry muttered as he, Ron, Hermione, Maddy, Bella and Elliot made their way to Nick's deathday party.

"A promise is a promise," Hermione said for the thousandth time that night alone.

"Deathday parties are actually very cool," Maddy said. Bella rolled her eyes.

"It's a bunch of ghosts taking about how they died, who doesn't want to hear about that?" Elliot added, completely sincerely.

"I don't," Ron grumbled.

"I wish I could watch the dancing skeletons but it should still be fairly interesting," Bella said.

"Oh yes," Hermione nodded. "I suppose there are very few living people who can say that they've been to a deathday party." Maddy nodded in agreement.

There were long, thin, jet-black tapers, all burning bright  
blue, casting a dim, ghostly light even over their own living faces. The temperature dropped with every step they took, but it didn't bother Maddy in the least. As the people around her shivered and drew their robes tightly around themselves, she heard what sounded like a thousand fingernails scraping an enormous blackboard.

"Is that supposed to be music?" Ron asked incredulously. Maddy couldn't help but cringe a little as well, the ghosts in the Underworld had a much better taste in music. Not to mention, the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard made her feel rather nauseous. She was seriously considering going down to the Underworld just to find Bach's ghost and _somehow_ bring him back up with her.

They turned a corner and saw Nearly Headless Nick standing at a doorway hung with black velvet drapes. "My dear friends," he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…" He swept off his plumed hat and bowed them inside.

It was an incredible sight. The dungeon was full of hundreds of pearly-white, translucent people, mostly drifting around a crowded dance floor, waltzing to the dreadful, quavering sound of thirty musical saws, played by an orchestra on a raised, black-draped platform. A chandelier overhead blazed midnight-blue with a thousand more black candles.

"At least it isn't as crowded as Asphodel," Maddy said under her breath.

"What?" Hermione asked her.

"It's a city in America," she lied. "Very crowded. It's almost impossible to move through the crowd."

"Shall we look around?" Harry suggested.

"Careful not to walk through anyone," said Ron nervously, and they set off around the edge of the dance floor. They passed a group of gloomy nuns, a ragged man wearing chains, and the Fat Friar, the cheerful Hufflepuff ghost, who was talking to a knight with an arrow sticking out of his forehead.

"Oh, no," said Hermione, stopping abruptly. "Turn back, turn back, I don't want to talk to Moaning Myrtle-"

"Who?" said Harry as they backtracked quickly.

"She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor," said Hermione.

"She haunts a toilet?"

"Yes. It's been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you-" Elliot began mimicking ghostly wails, receiving a glare from Hermione and snickers from Bella and Ron.

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," Maddy said and continued walking forward.

Maddy could hear Ron saying, "Look, food!" as she walked away and Bella calling her mad but she didn't pay that bit any mind.

"Hello, Myrtle," Maddy said, startling the young ghost girl dressed in Hogwarts robes out of a very sad looking silence. "I'm Maddy."

"H-hello," she stammered, a little confused and defensive. Maddy guessed people didn't talk to her very often. "What do you want?" She added in a very way and even more defensive tone.

"Just to talk," Maddy replied calmly. Myrtle crossed her arms and looked at Maddy with a scrutinising gaze.

"I'm sure you're really here to torment me like everyone else! Perhaps you'll make fun of my face of my glasses like that wretched Olive Hornby!"

"No, of course not. And ridiculing someone for having glasses is ridiculous, infact, one of my friends wears glasses quite similar to yours," Maddy pointed out Harry. Myrtle seemed to relax a bit.

"OY, MYRTLE!" Someone suddenly yelled, Maddy turned to see that it was Peeves the poltergeist, dressed in horribly garish clothing and standing by the the daughter of Hades' friends. Myrtle began floating over to them and Hermione seemed panicky, Maddy followed the young ghost.

"-er, hello, Myrtle," Hermione said rather awkwardly.

"What?" she said sulkily.

"How are you, Myrtle?" said Hermione in a falsely bright voice. "It's nice to see you out of the toilet." Myrtle sniffed.

"Miss Granger was just talking about you-" said Peeves slyly in Myrtle's ear.

"Just saying - saying - how nice you look tonight," said Hermione, glaring at Peeves. Myrtle eyed Hermione suspiciously.

"You're making fun of me," she said, silver tears welling rapidly in her small, see-through eyes.

"No - honestly - didn't I just say how nice Myrtle's looking?" said Hermione, nudging Harry and Ron in the ribs while attempting to do the same to Bella and Elliot but they were standing too far away from her.

"Oh, yeah-"

"She did-"

"Don't lie to me," Myrtle gasped, tears now flooding down her face, while Peeves chuckled happily over her shoulder.

"D'you think I don't know what people call me behind my back? Fat Myrtle! Ugly Myrtle! Miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle!"

"You've forgotten pimply," Peeves hissed in her ear.

Moaning Myrtle burst into anguished sobs and fled from the dungeon. Peeves shot after her, pelting her with moldy peanuts, yelling, " _Pimply! Pimply!_ "

"Oh, dear," said Hermione sadly.

" _Peeves_!" Maddy exclaimed. The poltergeist feel silent and Myrtle began to drift away, sadly crying.

"Nice going, Hermione," Ron said bitterly.

"That was actually entertaining," Elliot noted.

"Not really," Bella shook her head.

"Enjoying yourselves?" Nick had appeared.

"Oh yes," they asked nodded.

"Not a bad turnout," said Nearly Headless Nick proudly. "The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent… It's nearly time for my speech, I'd better go and warn the orchestra…"

The orchestra, however, stopped playing at that very moment. They, and everyone else in the dungeon, fell silent, looking around in excitement, as a hunting horn sounded.

"Oh, here we go," said Nearly Headless Nick bitterly.

Through the dungeon wall burst a dozen ghost horses, each ridden by a headless horseman. The assembly clapped wildly; Maddy groaned.

The horses galloped into the middle of the dance floor and halted, rearing and plunging. At the front of the pack was a large ghost who held his bearded head under his arm, from which position he was blowing the horn. The ghost leapt down, lifted his head high in the air so he could see over the crowd (everyone laughed), and strode over to Nearly Headless Nick,  
squashing his head back onto his neck.

"Nick!" he roared. "How are you? Head still hanging in there?" He gave a hearty guffaw and clapped Nearly Headless Nick on the shoulder.

"Welcome, Patrick," said Nick stiffly.

"Live 'uns!" said Sir Patrick, spotting Harry, Ron, and Hermione and giving a huge, fake jump of astonishment, so that his head fell off again (the crowd howled with laughter).

"Very amusing," said Nearly Headless Nick darkly.

"Don't mind Nick!" shouted Sir Patrick's head from the floor. "Still upset we won't let him join the Hunt! But I mean to say - look at the fellow-"

"I think," said Harry hurriedly, at a meaningful look from Nick, "Nick's very - frightening and  
\- er -"

"Ha!" yelled Sir Patrick's head.

"Bet he asked you to say that!"

"If I could have everyone's attention, it's time for my speech!" said Nearly Headless Nick loudly, striding toward the podium and climbing into an icy blue spotlight.

"My late lamented lords, ladies, and gentlemen, it is my great sorrow…" But nobody heard much more. Sir Patrick and the rest of the Headless Hunt had just started a game of Head Hockey and the crowd were turning to watch. Nearly Headless Nick tried vainly to recapture his audience, but gave up as Sir Patrick's head went sailing past him to loud cheers.

"They must have no common decency," Maddy growled. "They know it's his day and they come in her to flaunt the fact that he was rejected yet again. I really don't see why he even wants to join the Headless Hunt after hundreds of years of being rejected for such a thin slice of skin."

"Now they're just bring arses," Bella agreed.

"I bet head hockey'd be fun with _real_ heads," Elliot said thoughtfully. "Messy but very entertaining. Though you would have to avoid hitting the heads too hard to avoid breaking the skull..."

" _Why_ are you thinking about that?" Ron asked.

"Because I can. "

"Let's go," Harry said, shivering as the orchestra started back up. Maddy noticed that the rest of them were shivering as well.

They backed toward the door, nodding and beaming at anyone who looked at them, and a minute later were hurrying back up the passageway full of black candles.

"Pudding might not be finished yet," said Ron hopefully, leading the way toward the steps to the  
entrance hall.

And then, Harry and Elliot suddenly stopped, Harry was pale and looking around everywhere, Elliot seemed to be listening intently.

"Harry, what're you-?" Bella started.

"It's that voice again - shut up a minute-"

"Voice?" Hermione asked. "What voice?"

"Shut up," Elliot said harshly.

"Listen!" Harry spoke at the same time.

"I don't hear a voice," Ron whispered to the other three.

"I think they've gone mad," Bella added with a sigh.

"This way," he shouted, and he began to run, up the stairs, into the entrance hall. Harry sprinted up the marble stairs to first floor, the others following him.

"Harry, Elliot, what're we-"

"SHH!"

There was a pause then Elliot shot off yelling a string of profanities and Harry exclaimed, "It's going to kill someone!" and ignoring his friends bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time. Elliot hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Harry, Bella and Maddy close behind, Ron and Hermione panting behind them, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage.

"Harry, what was that all about?" said Ron, wiping sweat off his face. "I couldn't hear  
anything…"

But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor. " _Look!_ " She shrieked.

There, dangling in the air over a huge puddle of water was Filch's cat, , and just over the completely still cat were dark red words that glittered in the torch light.

"What does it say?" Maddy asked.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware," Hermione breathed.

"What does that mean?" Bella asked.

"What's that dangling underneath?" Ron asked. Harry moved towards and almost slipped in the puddle of water.

"It's Filchs cat," Maddy said. "It isn't dead. I don't think." She added the last part as an afterthought so it sounds more like a guess than exact knowledge.

"Let's get out of here," Ron said quickly.

"Shouldn't we... try to help?" Harry said weakly and awkwardly.

"No," Elliot said urgently. "We do _not_ want to be found here."

"But-"

Harry was cut of by a multitude of approaching footsteps and, at the usherence of Elliot and Maddy, ran into the nearest room. Footsteps were drawing nearer and nearer and soon they all stopped and quiet gasps and hushed whispers spread through the crowd until someone gleefully yelled, "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, mudbloods!" It was Draco Malfoy.

"I'm going to hex him," Elliot muttered under her breath.

"You and me both," Ron added, equally as quiet.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" This was Argus Filch. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. There was a pause and then, " _You!_ " he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"

" _Argus!_ " This was from Dumbledore. "Come with me, Argus."

"My office is nearest, headmaster," Lockhart said eagerly. "Just upstairs, please feel free."

"Thank you, Gilderoy."

They listened intently, waiting for everyone to leave before exiting the room, but before they could their was a shrill shriek that resounded throughout the room. Ron swore under his breath, they were in Myrtle's bathroom and she was yelling about boys being in there as well as insisting that they were their to bully her.

"Myrtle!" Maddy exclaimed quietly, but she was drowned out by Myrtle's hysterics that, as expected, drew the attention of many people, McGonagall just so happened to be the one to enter the bathroom.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asked, arms crossed and a stern look on her face. They ask stayed quiet, unsure of how to answer the deputy headmistress. She sighed and exasperatedly said, "Come with me."

She lead them into Lockhart's office where Dumbledore, Lockhart, Filch and Snape already were. Maddy scowled at the multitude of smiling, posing Lockhart's on the walls and his desk. She was _sure_ he was even more of an egomaniac than Narcissus and he quite literally died because he refused to look away from himself. Lockhart just happened to be lucky enough to live in a time when he could carry a small photograph of himself in his pocket, something Maddy _knew_ he did. She'd seen him take it out at meals and after classes.

"It was definitely a curse that killed her -probably the Transmogrifian Torture- I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her," Lockhart was saying as they entered.

Dumbledore was muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand, Snape was glowering at Lockhart in the shadows and Filch was sobbing in a chair.

"…I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou," Lockhart continued, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once-" The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as he talked. One of  
them had forgotten to remove his hair net.

"Was that story stolen or fiction?" Elliot asked.

"Miss de la Mare!" McGonagall said sharply.

"I only speak truths," she quickly said.

"And the cat isn't dead," Maddy said.

"How would you know that?" Snape sneered. "Unless-"

"Because I can tell the difference between dead and not dead," she replied, interrupting Snape before he could finish his thought.

"The word's 'alive.'" Bella whispered to Maddy.

"I know that, Bella!" She hissed back.

"Miss Mender is right," Dumbledore said. "She is simply petrified-" ("Ah! I thought so!" Lockhart exclaimed) "-but how, I cannot say."

"Ask _her_!" Filch pointed at Maddy, hand shaking.

"Oh, what'd I do!" Maddy asked defensively.

"You knew she wasn't dead! How could you have known that without having done it to her!"

"Well-"

"It would have required a skill level far beyond that of a second year's," McGonagall interjected. "Not to mention that it's a Dark Art."

"She did it!" Filch spat, his face was beginning to turn purple. "You saw what she wrote on the wall! Potter found my Kwikspell letter! He must've told her that I'm a squib!"

"For your information, I've _never_ even heard that word before in my entire _life_!" Maddy replied.

"Rubbish! You're from a pureblood family, 'course you know!"

"I was raised by muggles!"

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows. "Mender and her friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't she at the Halloween feast?"

"We were at Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party," Ron said.

"There were hundreds of ghosts, just ask them," Harry added.

"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight. "Why go up to that corridor?"

"Because-because-" Harry stammered, "because we were tired and wanted to go to bed," he said. Maddy had to admit that that was an awful, stupid and unbelievable lie. She fought the urge to groan and slam her face into something.

"Without any supper?" said Snape, a triumphant smile flickering across his gaunt face. That wasn't the question she'd been expecting. "I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties."

"We weren't hungry," said Ron loudly as his stomach gave a huge rumble. Snape's nasty smile widened.

"And two of you are Slytherins," he added. "The common room is in the opposite direction."

"Hermione offered to help me with homework," Maddy said, "for History of Magic," she added, knowing that they knew that she _needed_ help with History as it was entirely written.

"And you, Miss de la Mare?" He turned to Elliot. "You do fine with homework on your own."

"The Slytherin common room and Great Hall were too far away," she replied in a completely convincing way. That was certainly something that would motivate her to do or not do something. Snape didn't seem to believe any of them. Well, the Gryffindor's did have pretty terrible excuses and Maddy's didn't line up with Hermione's.

"It seems that these students aren't telling the truth," he said. "I'm thinking no more Quidditch for Potter, Nevra and Weasley and three months of detention for Granger, Mender and de la Mare."

"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to stop them playing Quidditch and give them months of detention. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick or hit with a spell any of these six could perform. There is no evidence at all that Potter, Mender or any of the others have done anything wrong."

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," Dumbledore said firmly. Snape looked furious. So did Filch.

"My cat has been petrified!" he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some _punishment_!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris"

"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep-"

"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

"Not to mention those 'hundred' times are probably all either fake or stolen from other people," Elliot added.

"Ten points from Slytherin for repeated disrespect towards a professor," McGonagall said.

"Worth it," Elliot whispered to her friends.

"You may go," Dumbledore said to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bella, Elliot and Maddy.

They went, as quickly as they could without actually running. When they were a floor up from Lockhart's office, they turned into an empty classroom and closed the door quietly behind them.

"What was that writing on the wall about?" Harry asked. "'The Chamber Has Been Opened'... What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know, it rings a sort of bell," said Ron slowly. "I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once... might've been Bill..."

"The Chamber of Secrets," Elliot began that sounded as if she was a teacher, "is rumoured to only be able to be opened by descendants of Salazar Slytherin, the last recorded time it was opened was in 1943."

"Oh yeah, didn't someone die then?" Bella asked. "Someone Warren... I think."

"Yeah," Elliot nodded.

"What on earth's a Squib?" said Harry.

"I was wondering that too," Maddy said.

Ron stifled a snigger and Elliot glared at him. "Well, it's not funny really but as it's Filch," he said. "A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much." Ron gave a satisfied smile. "He's bitter."

A clock chimed somewhere. "Midnight," said Harry. "We'd better get to bed before Snape comes along and tries to frame us for something else."

Elliot swore and said, "We really should get going," she ran out the door, Maddy quickly followed, then the Gryffindors ran out as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since this chapter features a bit from Elliot's perspective I decided that I should reveal a bit of information about her that I've been very excited about but I don't want to make a big deal of in the story, there's little hints that I at least try to drop here and there and it might be outwardly mentioned sometime in the GoF or OotP I'm not too sure yet though.
> 
> ANYWAYS, DUH DUH DUH DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN
> 
> Elliot is a trans girl, hella, enjoy the information I hope this makes someone as happy as it makes me when I figure out that someone in a story is a member of the LGBT community.


	5. Genealogy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm late again. Sorry... I STILL BLAME SCHOOL, but that's over in like five weeks or something so yeah

** Chapter 5: Genealogy **

The message about the Chamber of Secrets wouldn’t go away, even though Filch spent the next several days constantly scrubbing away at it with  _ Mrs.Skower’s All Purpose Magical Mess Remover _ . Ginny Weasley had begun acting strange as well, Ron said that she was a real cat person but Maddy didn’t exactly buy it, nobody knew Filch’s cat except Filch and everyone hated it. It was practically a spy. Not just Ginny and Filch were affected but Hermione too, she was spending even more time in the library and nobody knew what she was looking up.

“All the copies of  _ Hogwarts, A History _ have been taken out,” she said, sitting down next to Harry and Ron. “And there’s a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn’t left my copy at home, but I couldn’t fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books.”

“Why do you want it?” said Harry. 

“The same reason everyone else wants it,” said Hermione, “to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.” 

“What’s that?” Harry asked 

“That’s just it. I can’t remember,” said Hermione, biting her lip. “And I can’t find the story anywhere else-”

“Oh my god, Hermione,” Elliot rolled her eyes. “Just ask me, I’ll tell you everything I know, then I can also get the books I have at home about it. I have several books on Salazar Slytherin at home.”

“Why?” Maddy asked.

“Every ancient pureblood family has a library. I’ve actually said this a lot.”

“I thought the de la Mare’s were a Ravenclaw family,” Bella said. “Normally families only have books on their family house founder.”

“Yeah, well my family inherited the Gaunt library and they were a Slytherin family, and we’ll get bits of the Black family library eventually unless I end up labelling my family as blood traitors. I’m sure my sister’ll make up for it, though.”

“Since when have you had a sister?” Ron asked.

“For a while, she’s in the fifth year and we aren’t on speaking terms. I don’t even know what house she’s in.”

“That’s an amazing family you have,” Bella shook her head.

“Hermione, let me read your History of Magic homework,” Ron said suddenly and desperately, checking his watch. 

“No, I won’t,” said Hermione, suddenly severe. “You’ve had ten days to finish it-” 

“I only need another two inches, come on-” But he was stopped by the bell ringing and they made their way to History of Magic, Ron and Hermione bickering all the way.

“So, does my family have a library?” Harry asked as they walked.

“Probably,” Elliot nodded. “It’s most likely located in the Potter mansion, again, every old pureblood family has a mansion somewhere, most people live in it and I think your parents were just going to stay in Godric's Hallow until the war was over and they knew they were safe.”

The minute they walked into the classroom it was as if they’d suddenly lived through several extra hours but couldn’t remember it as they had all, almost immediately, become extremely drowsy -except Hermione- before the lesson had even begun, but everyone knew that it was just going to be Professor Binns droning on about the Goblin Rebellions over and over and over again, as always. The lessons were always the same. Maddy was asleep in under two minutes.

Apparently, she'd missed quite a show as the class ended up ganging up on Binns in an attempt to get information out of him. Unfortunately, they'd only gotten the fact that a monster of some sort was hidden in the chamber and that no one had been able to find it in the entire time the school had existed despite numerous searches.

“I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony,” Ron said as they fought their way through the teeming corridors at the end of the lesson. “But I never knew he started all this pureblood stuff. I wouldn’t be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I’d’ve got the train straight back home…”

“Oi!” Elliot exclaimed.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “But the rest of Slytherin’s a load of gits.”

“The other years are actually okay, we just got a rotten year,” Maddy said, “apparently there's this phenomenon that every eight or so years the entire year is simply awful and bigoted.“

“Wow are we unlucky,” Harry said.

“You don't have to live with them, honestly, if I have to listen to Parkinson gushing over Lockhart or repeating the same things about how ‘great’ her family is over and over again!”

“D’you really think there’s a Chamber of Secrets?” Ron suddenly asked Hermione. 

“I don’t know,” she said, frowning. “Dumbledore couldn’t cure Mrs.Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be, well, human.”

“Of course it's not human,” Elliot said as the other five stopped in their tracks, staring at the wall that still read ‘ _ THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE _ ’ with a chair leaning against it, along with a bottle of cleaner and a pile of rags.

“This is where Filch is always keeping watch,” Ron said.

“It can't hurt to look around a bit,” Harry said.

“Yay, snooping,” Bella grinned and the six of them spread out, looking for anything that could tell them what happened.

“Scorch marks!” Harry said. “Here, and here-” 

“Come and look at this!” said Hermione. “This is funny…”

“I'd say strange,” Maddy said. “Spiders don't move like that without a reason.”

Harry, Bella and Elliot crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside. 

“Have you ever seen spiders act like that?” said Hermione wonderingly.

“Nope,” Bella said, popping the ‘p’ in the short word.

“I don't think I have,” Maddy shook her head.

“No,” said Harry, “have you, Ron? Ron?” 

Ron was standing well back and seemed to be fighting the impulse to run. 

“What’s up?” said Harry. 

“I - don’t - like - spiders,” said Ron tensely. He seemed as terrified as a child of Athena felt around the arachnids, but they all had a reason as spiders were often out to get them because of the whole Arachne thing.

“I never knew that,” said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. “You’ve used spiders in Potions loads of times…” 

“I don’t mind them dead,” said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. “I just don’t like the way they move…” Hermione giggled, Elliot and Maddy snorted. 

“It’s not funny,” said Ron, fiercely. “If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my-my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick… You wouldn’t like them either if you’d been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and…” 

He broke off, shuddering. Hermione was obviously still trying not to laugh, Elliot and Maddy were laughing quite openly and Bella was holding back an amused grin. Harry said, most likely trying to get off the subject of spiders, “Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from?”

“I imagine Myrtle flooded the bathroom,” Bella said.

“Maybe we could talk to her?” Maddy suggested.

“No way,” Ron shook his head fervently, “last time we went in there she went into hysterics, remember?”

“Well, maybe if you two stay out here and we go in there she'll be fine with it,” Bella suggested.

“Fine,” Ron sighed.

“We'll just keep looking around out here,” Harry said as the girls went into Myrtle's bathroom.

Maddy hadn't been able to look around the bathroom before and she was honestly glad she hadn't. It was in terrible condition, all the sinks were chipped, the mirrors were splotchy and falling apart. The poor lighting was reflected on the damp floor and the stall doors were flaking and scratched, one was even dangling off its hinges. Maddy had the odd feeling that if she had gone in there to use the bathroom she would be able to wait for at least another two hours.

There was sobbing coming from the last stall, Hermione approached it and tentatively opened the stall door.

“Hello, Myrtle, how are you?” she asked. Myrtle was floating over the tank of the toilet and picking at a spot on her chin. She didn't reply to the question, only sniffed.

“We were wondering if you've seen anything strange lately,” Maddy said.

“Why?” Myrtle asked.

“Well, Mrs.Norris  _ was _ petrified just outside,” Bella pointed out.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” said Myrtle dramatically. “Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to  _ kill _ myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I’m-that I’m-” 

“Already dead,” sighed Elliot.

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend. 

Maddy and Bella stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged wearily and said, “Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle… Come on, let’s go.”

“I can't believe you've actually  _ used _ this bathroom,” Maddy shook her head.

“Yeah,” Elliot nodded. “I'd die myself before using this one.”

“It's okay when Myrtle isn't sobbing,” Hermione shrugged.

“I'm not talking about Myrtle, I'd been fine with Myrtle,” Maddy said. “This bathroom's in horrible condition, it can't be clean.”

“Really, there are better bathrooms to use,” Bella chimed in as they left the bathroom. They were created by the sight of Percy Weasley lecturing Harry and Ron.

“Honestly, what were you thinking?” Percy asked sternly. “Coming back here while everyone else is at dinner. Do you know how this  _ looks _ ?”

“Why shouldn’t we be here?” said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy. “Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!” 

“That’s what I told Ginny,” said Percy fiercely, “but she still seems to think you’re going to be expelled, I’ve never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly over excited by this business-” 

“You don’t care about Ginny,” said Ron, whose ears were now reddening. “You’re just worried I’m going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy-” 

“Five points from Gryffindor!” Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect badge. “And I hope it teaches you a lesson. No more  _ detective _ work or I'll write to mum.” He then strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron’s ears.

After dinner, the six of them went to the library, all working on their homework. Ron was fuming and eventually slammed his copy of _The_ _Standard Book of Spells: Grade 2_ shut and Hermione, to everyone's surprise, followed suite, stopping her lecture to Maddy on the theoretical principles of the _Avis_ spell.

“Who can it be, though?” she said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. “Who’d want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggleborns out of Hogwarts?” 

“Let’s think,” said Ron in mock puzzlement. “Who do we know who thinks Muggleborns are scum?” He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced. 

“If you’re talking about Malfoy-” 

“Of course I am!” said Ron. “You heard him -’ _ You’ll be next, Mudbloods! _ ’- come on, you’ve only got to look at his foul rat face to know it’s him-” 

“Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?” said Hermione skeptically. 

“Look at his family,” said Harry, closing his books, too. “The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he’s always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin’s descendants. His father’s definitely evil enough.”

“We could look at genealogical charts,” Elliot suggested.

“I don't think-” Maddy began.

“Most libraries in the wizarding world have genealogical charts,” Bella said. “Purebloods love to prove their blood status and tracking family's the best way.”

“I'll go ask Madam Pince where the genealogy section is,” Hermione said quickly and disappeared through the many shelves of books. She returned a few minutes later with several large scrolls in her arms. “The genealogical charts for the Slytherin, Malfoy and Black families.” She stated proudly as she set them down. The Black family had four different scrolls, Slytherin had three and Malfoy had one.

“Why'd you get the Black family?” Harry asked.

“Malfoy's mum was a Black before she was a Malfoy,” she explained and began unrolling the Malfoy scroll.

“Well, I'm useless here,” Maddy said. “The words are  _ far _ too small and have a weird script so I'm going to go look up something for... a friend.”

“Okay, go ahead,” Elliot said as she unrolled the first Slytherin scroll.

Maddy walked up to the front of the library where Madam Pince was arranging the books in the section on modern history. She walked up to the hawk like librarian and asked for books with translation spells in them, Madam Pince promptly replied, “Charms,” without looking away from what she was doing.

Maddy found her way into the Charms section and slowly scoured the book titles, looking for one that could possibly include a spell that could translate English into Greek.

She picked up a book titled  _ The Big Book of Language Charms and Hexes _ and flipped it open to the table of contents. She slowly dragged her finger down along the lines and lines of different languages, slowly deciphering until she came across the one for Greek. She flipped through the pages until she got to page 283 and located the English to Greek charm.

She pulled her potions textbook out of her bag and drew her wand from her pocket, then, pointing the dark stick at a randomly chosen page, said, “ _ Anglicus Graeco _ ,” and she watched as the English words turned into Greek, it was much easier to read now. 

She stuffed her potions book back in her bag and was about to do the same with  _ The Big Book of Language Charms and Hexes _ when she noticed a passage on Ocular Charms in the next page. Apparently they didn't change the text but they translated everything into the chosen language in the eyes of the target of the spell. All you had to do was say ‘ _ Oculi _ ’ in front of the incantation to change the language. That would be really useful.

Maddy decided to test that spell out as well, so she pointed her wand at herself and recited, “ _Oculi Anglicus Graeco_.”  She blinked and looked around and sure enough, all the books were in Greek. She grinned, this would make her life _so_ much easier.  Maddy made her way back to her friends and found Harry, Ron and Bella pouring over the Black family scrolls.

“Where're Elliot and Hermione?” She asked.

“Picking up the Gaunt and Lestrange scrolls,” Harry replied. “You find what you were looking for?”

“No, but I did find a spell for dyslexia,” she picked up the last of the four Black scrolls. “So why Lestrange and Gaunt?”

“Slytherin leads off into both of them,” Bella replied.

“Oh,” Maddy looked over the scroll, it was mostly empty, probably so they could add in more people as they were born, and she was glad at the shortness, the other three charts were all extremely long and convoluted. “Huh, Harry, you're grandmother, I'm guessing, was a Black.”

“What?” Harry looked up.

“Yeah, Dorea Potter, neé Black, mother of James Potter. Yep, she's your grandmother. That means Malfoy’s your second cousin or something like that. I really don't know how the cousin thing works so that's really just a guess.”

“I can't believe I'm related to  _ Malfoy _ ,” Harry said in a slightly disgusted and disgruntled tone.

“There are probably a lot of people related to Malfoy,” Bella said. “Maddy, you're probably related to him but like very distantly, I think I saw some Menders on the Malfoy charts.”

“Oh joy,  _ more _ people I'm distantly related to that are insufferable and horrible,” Maddy sighed. “Oh well, nothing's changed in my eyes.”

“We're back,” Hermione panted, emerging from one of the many rows of bookshelves, she was holding even more scrolls than before, Elliot was beside her and was, unsurprisingly, holding nothing.

They stayed in the library until Madam Pince told them they had to leave due to the curfew and the only person they'd found that was closely enough related to Salazar Slytherin to be the Heir and still at Hogwarts was Elliot -her grandmother had been a Gaunt- and she was immediately ruled out.

They decided that wasn't going to go anywhere, Maddy was pretty sure she had a plan but she couldn't tell her friends.

Elliot had stopped going to Defence altogether by mid November, unable to deal with all the girls ogling Lockhart with hearts in their eyes or Lockhart's general egomaniacal attitude, which meant, with the threat of her disproving more of his books gone, Lockhart had stopped teaching to Elliot's lesson plans. Thankfully, he didn’t bring any more live animals in thanks to the pixie incident, but instead he did something much worse, in Maddy’s eyes. Instead, he did dramatic readings and reenactments of his books. He would pick a volunteer -volunteer is used  _ very _ loosely here as he always picked a very unwilling Harry- to play other people. So far, Harry had had to play a simple Transylvanian villager whom Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse, a banshee with a horribly loud and whiny screech and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him. Then, he had to pretend to be a werewolf, getting slammed to the ground by Lockhart, a truly pathetic attempt at recreating a lycanthrope, Maddy had to resist the urge to yell that they don’t act like that and that it’s impossible to take them down one-handed.

“Homework; compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of  _ Magical Me _ to the author of the best one!” Lockhart called when the bell rang, Harry getting to his feet after being knocked to the ground for the fifth time.

“I’ve already got one planned,” Maddy said as they left the classroom, then began to recite a poem she made up on the spot in a very serious tone, her eyes closed, one hand raised and the other placed on her chest. 

“ _ Oh, pompous one,  _

_ “You are more self involved than Narcissus _

_ “You’re tales are outrageous _

_ “You say you held down the Wagga Wagga Werewolf _

_ “But you see, _

_ “If you ever got so close to a lycanthrope _

_ “You would be dead.” _

“Oh, how am I ever to get the signed copy of  _ Magical Me _ when I have to compete with that glorious piece of work!” Bella exclaimed dramatically. Hermione scowled at them, and her scowled deepened when Harry and Ron began to laugh.

“Come on, Mione,” Ron groaned. “Did you listen to  _ anything _ Elliot said?”

“Of course I did,” she rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t make it true, besides, Elliot loves messing with people.”

“Did you see Lockhart’s reaction to what she was saying?” Harry asked. “It was obvious that she wasn’t lying.” Hermione huffed and stalked away, most likely heading to the library or the Gryffindor common room.

“Honestly,” Ron shook his head. “I don’t see why she’s so adamant on insisting that Lockhart isn’t an arrogant arse.”

“I think she’s developing a filter so she only hears what she wants,” Bella sighed. “Hey, Maddy,” she said suddenly. “The first Quidditch game’s happening on Saturday, d’you want to go and hope that Harry gets wounded so I can play with me?”

“What?” Harry asked, eyebrows raised.

“ _ Absolutely! _ ” Maddy replied, nodding with a wide grin plastered on her face. “And I’ll hope that Wood also gets wounded so Ron can play!”

“Yeah!” Ron agreed, starry eyed.

“I bet we could rig it!” Bella’s eyes gleamed happily.

“Great idea, go get the bludgers!” Maddy said quickly. “I bet I could find a spell to put on them to make them go right at Harry and Wood the entire time.”

“ _ Don’t do that! _ ” Harry yelped.

“Oh, we’re definitely doing it,” Bella said, then started laughing very loudly. “We’re joking, of course. Elli’s the only one who’d do something like that and she’s too busy putting herself  _ way _ ahead of everyone else in Transfiguration now.”

“Do you think anyone’s ever told her to  _ calm down _ with the studying?” Ron asked.

“Probably not, considering her family’s all Ravenclaws,” Bella sighed.

“Oh, I just realized I forgot my _ Standard Books of Spells _ ,” Maddy lied. “I’ll be right back!” She called as she ran off in the direction of the library before any of her friends could point out that she didn’t need her copy of  _ The Standard Book of Spells _ as Defence was their next and last class of the day.

She entered the library, Madam Pince was behind her desk, watching a group of Gryffindor third years like a vulture, and headed straight to the back. She looked around; no one was there, good.

Maddy quickly walked into the Restricted Section, took out her wand, pointed it at herself and muttered, “ _ Oculi Anglicus Graeco _ ,” and stashed her wand back in her pocket.

She began scouring the books for one about the Chamber of Secrets or Hogwarts History. She momentarily thought that the Restricted Section should really get some better protection, she had just  _ walked _ in after all, but she was overall glad for it.

After nearly an hour of searching she came across a book she thought would be helpful, it was a book on the history of Slytherin house and a large part of it was about Salazar Slytherin. As she began to walk out of the section she spotted a very familiar red head walking around. Maddy followed her, Ginny looked pale and very on edge, she was pretty sure that wasn’t normal for the youngest Weasley. Maddy supposed she was on edge because she wasn’t supposed to be in the Restricted Section, but why was she even there? What would Ginny need in the Restricted Section?

“Ginny,” Maddy said, the red haired girl jumped and hurled around, holding an old looking, black book close to her chest and her expression alarmed. She was paler than Maddy had thought she had been before and she was tense and shaking. Was she sick?

“Maddy,” she forced a smile, her lips were quivering. “What-what’re you d-”

“Are you okay?” Maddy asked, her eyes drawn to the book. There was something  _ definitely _ wrong about it. Wasn’t that the book Lucius Malfoy put in with her other books? Ginny swallowed and nodded fervently.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” she insisted. She gripped the book tighter.

“Why’re you in here?”

“Oh, just looking for books,” Ginny said, her voice was... off. A little strained and just all around not the same as it normally was. “What about you?”

“Me too,” Maddy said. “What’s that book you have there?”

“J-just a book,” she stammered.

“What’s it about?”

“Um... Potions?” Maddy could clearly hear the question in her book.

“Do you mind if I take a look at it?” She asked, not really expecting Ginny to hand it over. The younger girl’s grip on the book tightened and she shook her head.

“No, I-it’s really important. I need it for an, um, homework assignment,” this was an obvious lie, no first year homework would need information from the restricted section.

“What first year assignment requires information from the Restricted Section?” Maddy pressed, curiously.

“Er, it isn’t required, I just wanted some extra information,” Ginny said quickly. “You know, to make sure it’s really good.”

“Surely you wouldn’t mind letting me just take a look at it? The theory behind Potions is rather interesting.”

“Well, it isn’t really a theory book.”

“Well, I think every part of Potions is interesting, really.”

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry!” Ginny quickly ran off deeper into the Restricted Section. Maddy was definitely talking to Ron about his sister’s behaviour, it was just downright odd.

Maddy walked down to the Great Hall, it was definitely time for dinner now. She tucked the book she got into her bag and made her way through the halls, nearly everyone was heading in the same direction.

When she entered the hall, instead of taking a right to get to the Slytherin table she took a left, towards the Gryffindor table, she spotted her Gryffindor friends immediately. A few people looked at her as she walked by, but most of them ignored her.

“What’re you doing?” Harry asked when she sat down beside Hermione.

“Relax,” she said, it wasn’t like a god was going to smite her for sitting at a different table, the worst thing that would happen would be detention but if she got in trouble at all she’d probably just get points deducted from Slytherin. “Listen, I was in the Restricted Section-”

“Maddy!” Hermione exclaimed.

“It’s okay, Hermione,” she rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I got a book about the history of Slytherin, a big portion of it’s on Salazar Slytherin, it probably covers the Chamber of Secrets somewhere in it.” She pulled out the book and handed it to Hermione.

“This seemed like something that could wait,” Bella said.

“It could, but there’s something else.”

“What is it?” Harry asked.

“Well, I saw Ginny-”

“In the Restricted Section?” Ron demanded, alarmed.

“Yes, and she was acting very strange. She was holding a dark book, I asked her about it and she said it was for Potions homework, I asked her if I could see it and she ran off. And what’s more is that I saw Lucius Malfoy put it in her stack of books.”

“I saw him do that too,” Harry admitted.

“What do you think that book was?” Hermione asked.

“I don't know,” Maddy said, “that’s why I was trying to get it. There’s definitely something off about the book itself, though.”

“Ginny _has_ been acting differently ever since we went to Diagon Alley,” Ron said, thoughtfully.

“You don’t think the book’s cursed, do you?” Bella asked.

“If Malfoy’s dad gave it to her it probably is,” Harry said angrily.

“What should we do about it?” Ron asked.

“We could talk to her,” Hermione suggested.

“If you do do that, don’t bring me up,” Maddy said. “What I would do it try to take the book from her, one of you could distract her while someone else grabs the boo-”

“Miss Mender,” a menacing voice spoke. She looked up to see Snape.

“Yes?” She asked with an innocent smile.

“Are you aware that this is the Gryffindor table?”

“Is it?” She asked, looking around, feining confusion. “I guess that explains all the red, I was very confused, now I see wh-”

“Ten points from Slytherin, go to your table,” he hissed.

“Well, bye then,” Maddy said to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bella and walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting down across from Elliot.

“What was that about?” Elliot asked, taking a sip from her cup of coffee.

“Why’re you drinking coffee at dinner?” Maddy asked. “How did you even get coffee?”

“I transfigured it,” she shrugged.

“So you  _ are _ putting yourself ahead of everyone else in Transfiguration since you’ve already proven yourself to be ridiculously good at Defence.”

“Well, I  _ was _ behind in Defence thanks the Quirrell,” she made a face.

“You were not behind in Transfiguration! You were one of the best in our class!”

“I. Was. Behind. Now, why did you just go over to the Gryffindor table?”

“Ginny was acting weird,” Maddy sighed. “We think a book Lucius Malfoy gave her is cursed, so they’re trying to figure out how to get it away from her to see what’s up with it.”

“Oh,” Elliot nodded. “Well, have fun with that.”

“I also got a book that’ll probably have information on the Chamber of Secrets and gave it to Hermione.”

“But she’s already read all the books that could have information on it.”

“She didn’t look in the Restricted Section,” Maddy smirked.

“Right, I forgot about that.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“You’re right, I just didn’t suggest looking because I don’t really care enough,” Elliot said.

“Will you ever change?” Maddy asked.

“Absolutely not. How was Defence?”

“You know, same old, same old. Lockhart made Harry pretend to be the Wagga Wagga Werewolf, which was actually the least accurate representation of a lycanthrope I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, it’s Lockhart, you can’t expect anything he says to be accurate,” Elliot rolled her eyes. “Now, are you tired of pumpkin juice or is it just me?”

“I don’t even  _ like _ pumpkin juice.”

“ _ Sucus Aquam _ ,” she tapped her wand against Maddy’s cup, the orange liquid became less thick and turned clear, for the most part, it was still a bit orange. “It’ll probably still taste a bit like pumpkin but it isn’t pumpkin juice anymore.”

“You just did that to show off, didn’t you.”

“Yes,” Elliot nodded.

“Do you have any shame?”

“Why would I?” Maddy stuck her tongue out at her lanky friend and served herself some food.

The Quidditch stands were loud, well, they were always loud. The Gryffindors were being particularly loud, as they always were when either Gryffindor or Slytherin was play and this match was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, meaning they were twice as loud as they would be if it was just Gryffindor or just Slytherin. Ginny was happy and excited to be there, but she was also very on edge, Maddy had asked her about Tom Riddle’s diary and she was probably suspicious of her now, she  _ had _ run away after all. But what was Maddy doing in the Restricted Section? She could barely read because of her dyslexia and she wasn’t allowed in there either!

Either way, she’d tried to get the diary, she’d have to keep it close to her all the time, that’s what Tom had advised, anyway. He seemed to think Maddy would tell Ron, Hermione, Harry and Bella about it and they’d probably try to take the diary and they -she and Tom- didn’t want that.

Ginny was also a little sad, it seemed that the Slytherins were going to win and the match hadn’t even started yet! Malfoy had bought his way onto the Slytherin Quidditch team with the newest and fastest brooms, the Nimbus Two Thousand One, and while Malfoy probably wasn’t a great Seeker everyone else had gotten on the team from skill and they now had the best brooms available. Not to mention, it was raining, that would make it harder to fly and undoubtedly cloud Harry's glasses.

“On my whistle,” Madam Hooch said clearly and loudly, her voice enchanted to make sure everyone could hear her over the roar of the crowd. “Three... two... one...”  She blew her whistle, the sound echoed and ripped through the talking and cheers, the fourteen players lifted into the air and the cheers and shouts to the team members grew, Ginny could hear people yelling thing like “Get those cheaters!” and “Brooms don’t matter! Skill does!” as well as a variety of other things. She saw Bella in the stands for reserve members of the Quidditch teams, she was yelling something but Ginny couldn’t hear,but it looked an awful lot like ‘mess them up.’

Malfoy was floating close to Harry, high above everyone else. A Bludger shot towards Harry, he dodged. Either Fred or George was flying by Harry now, ready to hit the Bludger as it began to shoot back. He knocked it in the general direction of one of the Slytherin Chasers. It began flying towards the Slytherin but changed direction in mid air and shot right back at Harry. That wasn’t normal Bludger behavior.

For the rest of the game Harry was dodging the Bludger and Fred and George were keeping it from hitting him, that was really odd. It shouldn’t have been acting like that. Ginny heard Fred yell, “Someone’s - tampered - with - this - Bludger!” as he hit the Bludger away. Madam Hooch blew her whistle for a time out shortly after that.

Ginny was incredibly worried, not just because Harry could get hurt but also because she’d been blacking out and every time she did something happened, she’d blacked out recently, what if she’d done that to the Bludger?

Everyone flew down to the ground, the Gryffindor team was arguing about something. Harry and Bella got switched out, Harry didn't seem too pleased about it. It started to rain harder.

Madam Hooch blew the whistle again and the players shot off into the sky. Bella was a good flier, she'd probably been flying her entire life, her dad _was_ a wizard, after all.

The game resumed, the Bludgers were acting normal again. Bella was flying around the stadium, Malfoy was on her tail the entire time. About ten minutes after the game started back up one of the Bludgers shot down low, right at the Gryffindor reserved team members and, more specifically, Harry. George shot downwards, hitting the Bludger away just in time. Across the Quidditch pitch, Bella and Malfoy were neck and neck, shooting after a tiny blur of gold. Malfoy was just a hair faster than Bella, but she had longer limbs. Bella edged herself further to the edge of her broom, it dipped downwards a bit, she edged even further, it dipped down a dangerous amount and she began to fall, her outstretched hand closed into a fist, Malfoy stopped and looked around, back to searching for the Snitch.

Fred was keeping the Bludger away from Harry, Bella tried to fix herself on her broom she managed to slow herself a little before crashing into the ground.

“I've got the Snitch!” She waved her hand around, revealing a small, shimmering, golden ball. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and everyone stopped. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, the Bludger didn't hurt anyone.

“That's not a normal Quidditch thing, right?” Maddy asked.

“No,” Hermione shook her head. “Come on!” She pulled Elliot and Maddy after her down to the Quidditch pitch to join Bella, Ron and Harry.

“I won us the match!” Bellona cheered. “Yes! And Harry didn't even get hit with the Bludger!”

“Yeah, about that,” Harry said. “Are you sure you didn't tamper with it?”

“Harry,” Maddy began, “I cannot believe you think I would  _ actually _ do such a thing.”

“You have to admit it did make it more interesting,” Elliot said.

“It did,” Maddy admitted.

“You're both awful,” Ron said.

“Good job, Nevra!” Oliver Wood walked over and clapped Bella on the back. “I knew it was smart to have you as the reserve Seeker!”

“It was stupid  _ not _ to have one, considering how often Harry gets hurt,” Maddy said. “Speaking of injuries,” she turned to Bellona, “how did you  _ not _ get hurt?”

“Oh, I did,” she nodded. “I dislocated my shoulder, but I'm fine, I can pop it back in place.” She handed Wood the Snitch, grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled it up.

“That's one of the worst things I've ever seen,” Ron flinched as she relocated her shoulder.

“Bella-” Hermione flinched at the same time.

“Yeah?”

“Nevermind,” she sighed and turned to Harry, “are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Thanks to Fred and George.”

“Just doing our job,” George said.

“We wouldn’t want our Seeker’s head to be bashed in,” Fred added.

“No one wants Harry’s head bashed in, except maybe Elliot,” Maddy said. Elliot made a face.

“The wizarding world would be in a panic!” Bella exclaimed. “Headlines would read ‘Boy Who Lived Brutally Killed by Tampered with Bludger.’”

“‘Bellona Nevera and Madeline Mender Suspected,'" Harry rolled his eyes.

“Why us?” Maddy asked.

“I said we could rig it and you said, and I quote, ‘go get the bludgers!’” Bella explained.

“Ron was involved in the planning, too.”

“Don’t look at me,” Ron said, “you two were the active planners.”

“You didn’t actually tamper with the Bludger, did you?” Hermione asked.

“Who do you take us for, psychopaths?” Bella asked.

“No, of course not,” Hermione said quickly.

“Miss Nevra!”

“Great,” Elliot rolled her eyes as Lockhart hurried over to Bella with Madam Pomfrey behind him.

“I’m fine,” Bella gave them both a double thumbs up. “See?” she began waving her arms and jumping. Her left arm wouldn’t lift above her shoulder. “Ow,” she stopped and gripped her shoulder.

Madam Pomfrey sped forward, passing Lockhart and inspected Bella’s arm. “Dislocated shoulder, did you try to relocate it?”

“Well, yeah,” Bella said. “I’ve done it before... to other people anyway.”

“I know a spell to painlessly relocate arms,” Lockhart said, pulling out his wand.

“Nope,” Bella said quickly. “Nope, nope nope, you’re not touching me.” She pulled away as Lockhart stepped up. “Madam Pomfrey can handle it, it’s her job.”

“I quite agree,” Madam Pomfrey, wrapping a hand around Lockhart’s arm and trying to pull him back and away.

“Nonsense, I’ve performed the spell countless times,” before anyone could object more he twirled his wand. Her shoulder and upper arm suddenly deflated.

She looked over at her shoulder, sent Lockhart a thoroughly unamused and said, “This is the reason why I said that I didn’t want you to touch me.”

“What happened?” Harry asked, eying Bella’s deflated shoulder.

“This idiot made the bones in my shoulder disappear. Elliot, I will be joining you in not going to Defence anymore.”

“Have fun with that, Bella,” Elliot said, “I work on Transfiguration at that time.”

“Ah,” said Lockhart. “Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the shoulder is no longer dislocated-”

“Because I don’t have a shoulder,” Bella muttered.

“-that’s the thing to bear in mind. So, Miss Nevra, just toddle up to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey will be able to -er- tidy you up a bit.”

Madam Pomfrey immediately grabbed Bella, shortly scolded Lockhart, and rushed her up to the hospital wing, Harry, Maddy, Hermione, Ron and Elliot followed after them. Bella was placed in a bed in the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey got out a goblet and a bottle of Skele-Gro.

“You’re in for a rough night,” she said as she poured the potion into the goblet and handed it to Bella. “Regrowing bones is a nasty business.” Bella made a disgusted face and coughed a lot after downing the Skele-Gro, Maddy assumed it was pretty disgusting. Madam Pomfrey walked away to deal with some other thing, tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers.

“We won, though,” said Ron, a grin breaking across his face. “That was some catch you made. Malfoy’s face... he looked ready to kill...” 

“I want to know who tampered with that Bludger,” said Hermione darkly.

The door of the hospital wing burst open at that moment. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see Bella. 

“Unbelievable flying, Bella,” Angelina Johnson grinned.

“Yeah, we just saw Flint yelling at Malfoy about being outrun by a Comet 260,” Katie Bell laughed.

They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Bella’s bed and were just getting started on what promised to be a good party when Madam Pomfrey came storming over, shouting, “This girl needs rest, she’s got lots of bones to regrow! Out! OUT!”


	6. Conversations with Dead People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thank Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the title of this chapter

**Chapter 6: Conversations with Dead People**

Harry woke up with a start, he wasn't sure why, until he noticed two large, tennis ball eyes glowing in the dark. He fumbled for his glasses and slid them on. Standing in front of him was a very familiar house elf.

"Dobby," he hissed, keeping his voice down to avoid waking up his roommates. The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose.

"Harry Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?" Harry heaved himself up on his pillows.

"What're you doing here?" he said. "And how did you know I missed the train?" Dobby's lip trembled and Harry was seized by a sudden suspicion.

"It was you!" he hissed quietly. "You stopped the barrier from letting us through!"

"Indeed yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward-" he showed Harry ten long, bandaged fingers, "-but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!" He was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head. "Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir..." Harry slumped back onto his pillows.

"You nearly got Ron and me expelled," he said fiercely. "You'd better get lost, Dobby, or I might strangle you." Dobby smiled weakly.

"Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home." He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking so pathetic that Harry felt his anger ebb away in spite of himself.

"Why d'you wear that thing, Dobby?" he asked curiously.

"This, sir?" said Dobby, plucking at the pillowcase. "'Tis a mark of the house elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house forever." Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make-"

"Your Bludger?" said Harry, anger rising once more. "What d'you mean, your Bludger? You made that Bludger try and kill me?"

"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"

"Oh, is that all!" Harry demanded angrily, not bother to keep his voice down this time.

"What is it, Harry?" Ron asked tiredly from the next bed over.

"It's late," Seamus added, "why aren't you asleep?"

"Is that a house elf?" Ron suddenly sat up. Dobby disappeared with a 'pop!' and Harry sighed.

"Yeah, he's the reason we missed the express," Harry said, still angry. "He was trying to keep me from coming back and he tampered with the bludger to try and get me injured!"

"That's rough, mate," Seamus yawned, apparently too tired to really care. "Now, can you keep it down? I'm exhausted."

"Who's elf is he?" Ron asked quietly.

"The Malfoy's," Harry replied.

"Bloody hell, he's probably just messing with you then."

"I don't think so, he punishes himself when he warns me about stuff. He's not told to come warn me."

"Can we talk about this later when we're well rested? I can't think right right now and Bella and Elliot probably know more about house elf related stuff than me, they both probably have them."

"Okay," Harry sighed, he was actually really tired. He didn't mind holding off talking about it until they could talk to the others.

* * *

"Guys," Bella hissed the next morning at breakfast, sliding into her normal seat beside Harry and across from Hermione. "Colin Creevey got petrified."

"We know," Hermione said grimly, "we heard McGonagall telling Flitwick."

"Bella, you have house elves, right?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Why?"

"There's a house elf, Dobby, he's one of the Malfoy's house elves," Harry said. "He's warned be about a danger here multiple times, Ron thinks the Malfoys are messing with me but he punishes himself whenever he talks to me about Hogwarts."

"Sounds like he's disobeying orders or he's doing something without being told to," Bella said. "The Malfoy's are probably really strict, house elves really only do that if they get physically punished by their owners. So I'm guessing he's not messing with you and neither are the Malfoys, although it's possible they are, they could have fed Dobby fake information for him to tell you that. I don't really see Lucius or Narcissa Malfoy doing that but you never know."

"Do you know the Malfoys?" Ron asked.

"Not really, but my dad's on the Board of Education with Lucius Malfoy and he holds a place in the Wizengamot with Narcissa Malfoy, I've had to go to all sorts of Board of Education and Wizengamot meetings since he doesn't trust me to stay at home alone or something, I don't know. But I mean, those're their public, political appearances."

"It's probably not them, then," someone else said. They turned to see Maddy and Elliot.

"How long were you standing there?" Ron asked.

"Ever since Bella came in," Elliot said.

"Congrats on having a shoulder," Maddy said. "And Harry, if that elf doesn't stop trying to save your life you're going to die."

* * *

The news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and was now lying as though dead in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by Monday morning. The air was suddenly thick with rumour and suspicion. The first years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone.

Ginny, who sat beside Colin in Charms seemed utterly distraught, Maddy thought it was weird, she didn't seem to know him that well, but no one listened, well, Elliot did but she seemed preoccupied with other things that she refused to tell anyone about, as was Hermione. Fred and George had very amusing attempts at trying to cheer her up, though they failed miserably and no one else thought it was a good way to go about it, Maddy still thought them covering themselves with boils or fur and jumping out from behind statues was quite funny.

Protective talismans were circling around the school, only the Slytherins didn't participate in the lunacy that involved, some of them got protective jewelry and other devices sent from their homes or ordered if they had them at all, there were plenty of them who thought they were above it all just because they were in Slytherin, although if whoever the Heir was was really against Muggleborns and 'blood traitors' they probably were for the most part.

Hermione brought up that Salazar Slytherin, along with Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff, were buried in the Founders' Graveyard which was on Hogwarts grounds, which was actually a really helpful piece of information to Maddy, no one else, though, and Maddy thought that was great, it meant she was able to do what she needed to without disruption.

She drew out her dark wand and muttered, " _Sanctus_ ," a rainbow shot out of her wand. She pulled out a drachma and tossed it through the rainbow. "Oh, Iris, goddess of rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Nico di Angelo." The rainbow shimmered and revealed a dark, cave like place. Maddy immediately knew he was somewhere in the Underworld.

"Nico," she said, he turned away from whatever he had been doing before and looked at her.

"Hey, Maddy," he replied.

"Do you think you could shadow travel down here? I need something to be done that only you can do."

"Well, that depends on what you want and where you are."

"I don't really _know_ where I am. It's somewhere in the Scottish highlands, there's no address, I have some pictures though, so that should be fine."

"Okay, but what do you need?" He asked.

"Right, well, I was wondering if you could raise someone for me. It's really important."

"Fine," he sighed. "Are they buried there or no?"

"He is," Maddy nodded.

"Alright, show me a picture of where it is I need to go." Maddy fished in her bag and pulled out a picture of the Founders' Graveyard she took just before IMing her brother. After looking at it for a moment Nico said, "I'll be there in a minute." He leaned forward and swiped through the rainbow, it slowly dissipated and Maddy was left in the darkness, sitting on Helga Hufflepuff's tombstone (The tombstone read, ' _Founder of Hufflepuff house, valued loyalty and hard work above all; a great friend and mother'_ ).

"This the grave?" Nico had appeared, he was standing behind Maddy.

"No, that one," Maddy used her foot to poke the tombstone in front of Helga Hufflepuff's grave. "Here," she reached into her bag and pulled out a slice of bread and a bottle of pumpkin juice that she had gotten Elliot to transfigure into something resembling coffee. She'd stopped by the kitchens before exiting the castle. "It's for energy, I'm not sure how long we're going to talk and I know how draining shadow travel can be, especially when you're going across the ocean."

"Thanks," Nico took the food and drink. "Do you have more for the ritual?"

"No, I went through the trouble of getting one slice of bread and a bottle of some sort of pumpkin coffee drink but I didn't get any more," Maddy slid off the tombstone and moved in front of Salazar Slytherin's grave, Nico scowled and sat beside her while she remained standing. She pulled out a loaf of bread and a bigger bottle of pumpkin juice and set them on the ground beside Nico.

'You going to sit?" He asked.

"I'm short enough already, Slytherin's probably like a giant, he'll tower over me while I'm standing no way am I sitting down."

Nico finished up his food and drink("This is awful, what is this and why would you give it to me?") and then took the loaf of bread and large bottle of pumpkin juice and began the ritual to summon Slytherin's ghost. He went into a sort of trance, concentrating greatly and a pasty, pale white man rose up from the ground.

"Salazar Slytherin," Maddy said. The ghost looked around and looked her up and down, she wasn't wearing her school uniform, instead she was wearing clothes that could easily pass as either pyjamas or lounge clothes, meaning a dark t-shirt with a skull design and sweatpants, so there was nothing to tell him which house she was in, which she assumed was what he was looking for.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Maddy Mender," she replied. "I was sorted into Slytherin if that's what you're wondering."

"What year are you in?"

"Second."

"And you managed to bring me back from the dead with such little schooling?"

"It's a different type of magic, and you're still dead, your ghost has been summoned from the Underworld, you'll be sent back as soon as my brother here ends the connection. And since this is a very straining thing to do I must get on with why I'm here. Is the Chamber of Secrets real?"

"Yes," Slytherin's ghost nodded.

"Who is your Heir?"

"The Slytherin family extended into several families."

"Do you know who's opening the Chamber now?"

"No."

"Which families?"

"I don't know," he seemed irritated to admit to not knowing something.

"What's the monster in the Chamber?"

"A basilisk."

"Basilisks don't paralyze people, and aren't found in the United Kingdom, try again."

"It is a basilisk."

"Tell the truth," Maddy demanded, using her control over ghosts to make him speak the truth.

"I am." Maddy groaned, frustrated but decided to move in and go back to the subject afterwards if there was time.

"Who're the enemies of the Heir?"

"Mudbloods, blood traitors and half bloods who have a muggle as a grandparent or parent."

"Why?"

"There is a belief that they are not true wizards."

"Is this not your belief?" Maddy asked, thinking the old man's phrasing to be odd, it might've just been because of his age, though.

"No," he admitted. "It is believed to be my belief but that is incorrect."

"Why do people believe that?"

"I once voiced my concerns of allowing muggle families to know if their magical children's magic and even not allowing muggleborns in."

"Why?"

"I lived in a time when witches and wizards would be burned at the stake for what they were."

"Right," Maddy nodded. The witch hunts, those would be happening around the time of the founders, wouldn't they. "How does one know if they're your heir?"

"If they are a parselmouth they are my heir."

"Parselmouth?"

"Someone who can speak to snakes."

"Does everyone with your blood have this ability?"

"No, only a small handful."

"Okay, now, describe the monster in the Chamber."

"The basilisk is a very l-" Slytherin couldn't finish as he began to disappear, his voice died as he grew less faint and Nico collapsed. Maddy sat down beside him, wondering what she was to do with her brother. She'd forgotten that he'd need to rest. Maybe she could get him into her dormitory and he could shadow travel away in the morning before anyone knew he was there?

It wasn't an excellent, or even a good plan but it was the only thing she could think of other than leaving him there and letting him sleep in the Forbidden Forest. She couldn't do tag-along shadow travelling yet, she'd never needed to, though she had tried a few times and miserably failed each time.

Maddy pulled Nico onto her back and began stalking back to the castle, cloaking herself and the still unconscious Nico in the shadows, it was some early morning hour, far past curfew but not too late for teachers to be wandering around. Besides, Snape was almost always out, he was rarely doing anything other than stalking the halls of Hogwarts after hours.

Thankfully, everyone in her dormitory was asleep, she dumped Nico into her bed and climbed in as well, it was lucky that both of them were rather small and barely moved as they slept. The bed was a twin but compared to Maddy it was practically a Queen sized bed, room was not an issue.

* * *

"Hey, Ginny," Ron said gently, sliding onto a chair beside his younger sister, Bella, Harry and Hermione, who was weighed down with at least a dozen books, joining them. Ginny, who had been looking down into her copy of _Vacations with Vampires_ with an expression of such extreme concentration she _had_ to have been thinking about something else because, Hermione hated to admit this, Lockhart's books really didn't take a whole lot of thought, looked up at the four new arrivals.

"Hey," she shifted uncomfortably. Bella nudged Hermione, and discretely gestured to a dark book with the words ' _T. M. Riddle_ ' printed on the spine in silver lettering. That must've been the book Maddy had seen her with, the one she'd held so protectively.

"How're you doing?" Harry asked, Ginny looked down at a piece of parchment, poorly concealing a deep blush. "You know, with Colin getting petrified."

"I'm fine," she said quickly, her index fingers were pressing together, turning the tips of her fingers white. "Um, I'm-I've got Defence homework and it's due tomorrow, I really need to get it done."

"What's you're assignment?" Bella asked. "I can help." That was a bit of a surprise, she didn't even _do_ Lockhart's work. She leaned forward, making to grab Ginny's parchment but knocked over Hermione's pile of books. Right onto the book they wanted from Ginny. "Oops, clumsy me," she laughed as she and Hermione began gathering up the books, Hermione made sure she picked up Ginny's book underneath her copies of _Slytherin: A History(From Author of Bestseller 'Hogwarts: A History')_ and _The Standard Books of Spells: Grade 2_ and placed the three books in the middle of her stack.

"I should take these back up to my room," Hermione said, picking up the stack that nearly towered over her head, "before they get knocked over again."

"Sorry," Bella said, giving a very convincing sheepish smile. She really could act very well. Hermione couldn't hear the rest of the conversation as she hurried away to her dormitory, dropping her books into her trunk, she pulled out _Hogwarts: A History_ and the book she just took from Ginny, sticking the new book between the pages of _Hogwarts: A History_. They fit together well, the new book was very small and _Hogwarts: A History_ was rather large, it fit almost perfectly.

Hermione went back downstairs, the book tucked under her arm, she didn't want to leave the new book in her dormitory where anyone could get at it. Ginny wasn't in the common room when she returned, when she asked Ron told her that she had run off in a panic -a poorly concealed one, apparently, according to Bella.

"I got the book," Hermione said triumphantly.

"Brilliant," Ron grinned.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Harry sighed.

"Come on, let's go to your dorm and take a look at it," Bella grinned, pulling Harry and Ron up to their room, Hermione followed on their heels. In the dorm, Harry and Ron sat on the floor, leaning against their respective beds, Bella wasn't leaning against anything and Hermione was leaning against Harry's bedside table. She flipped open _Hogwarts: A History_ and pulled the book out.

Ron took it immediately and quickly fanned through the pages, then said, "It's empty!" He held the book out and showed them that it was indeed empty.

"Maybe it's written in invisible ink?" Bella suggested.

"Maybe," Hermione drew her wand and said, " _Aparecium_!" Nothing happened, she sagged.

"I guess not," Harry sighed.

"I think it's a diary," Ron said, flipping through the book again. "It's blank and there're dates printed at the top of the pages," he pointed to the top of a page somewhere in the middle of the book, it read ' _April 5th_.' "I guess that doesn't really help, though."

"Maybe Elliot knows another spell?" Bella suggested.

"It's worth a shot," Harry said. They decided to hold off on anymore discussion of the diary until Elliot and Maddy were there as well.

* * *

Ginny was panicking. Tom's diary was missing! Where could she have put it? She could swear she had it with her all day, she hadn't put it down in the last _month_ , what could have happened to it?

It wasn't with her other things, maybe she left it in one of her classes? Maybe someone stole it. No, probably not. To everyone else it was just an empty book, no one else knew that it could talk back! Hopefully she just left it in Charms or Defence, not Potions. She would probably wouldn't be able to get it back if she left it in Snape's classroom.

She breathed in a deep breathe, she just left it in a class, she could get it back tomorrow. It would all be fine.

* * *

Maddy woke up being shaken violently, she looked up and saw Elliot standing over her, then looked over and saw Nico sleeping peacefully beside her, he'd probably sleep for a few days after such an exertion of powers the previous night. Maddy mentally cursed, questions would be asked about her brother, she obviously wasn't thinking well the night before.

"Who's that?" Elliot asked.

"My brother," she sighed, too tired to come up with a good lie. "He's not staying long and isn't going to classes."

"What's he doing here?"

"He wandered out of the forest last night, completely exhausted so I'm letting him rest until he has enough strength to move on."

"Okay," Elliot sighed, she probably didn't believe her but she was probably more concerned with getting to breakfast as she pulled Maddy to her feet and threw her clothes at her. Maddy got dressed as quick as she could, but her exhausted limbs weren't cooperating so it took her longer than it should have, especially since she was _trying_ to move quickly so she ended up fumbling with her fingers quite a bit and even buttoned her shirt up one button off and didn't realize until she got to the top of it. She didn't even bother with tying her tie and joined Elliot in the Great Hall.

"What the Ha-hell are you doing over here?" Maddy asked as she sat across from Elliot, just barely stopping herself before she said 'what the Hades.' The Gryffindors were sitting at the Slytherin table. "I thought you cared about losing house points."

"We do, _but_ -" Bella cut herself off by slamming a dark book down on the table.

"It belonged to someone named T. M. Riddle," Hermione said as Maddy quickly grabbed the book. She felt an obnoxious tingling in her hands as she held it.

"Unfortunately it's blank," Harry seemed very irritated by this fact.

"Did you try _Aparecium_?" Elliot asked.

"Yes," Hermione groaned. "Do you know any other spells for revealing hidden messages?"

"No, that's the only one that isn't _way_ above our level, and all the spells to check for curses are above our level too, they're not learned until seventh year in the N.E.W.T. Defence classes."

"Oh," Hermione frowned disappointedly.

Maddy finally flipped open the book as Ron said, "We think it's a diary." The pages were slightly yellower than most of the papers in the wizarding world, indicating it's age. She turned over a page and found it a little crisp as well, well but still easy to move. She _really_ didn't like the diary, it felt wrong and she couldn't explain how.

"Something wrong?" Bella asked. Maddy realized that she'd been frowning.

"No," Maddy shook her head, "just thinking about what could be up with this book." She paused for a moment, thinking, then said, "Could I keep this?" She received some odd looks from her friends and hurried on to say, "I mean, you took it from Ginny, so if I kept it with my stuff she wouldn't be able to find it unless she somehow figured out how to get into the Slytherin common room."

"Makes sense," Ron said. "And if it's cursed she'll probably be looking for it. We should keep it as far away from her as possible."

"We could take it to a teacher," Hermione suggested. Everyone looked at her with their own 'are you serious' expressions and she quickly withdrew the idea.

"We should get going," Elliot said. "Don't want to be late for Transfiguration." Maddy nodded and the two Slytherins left, the Gryffindors headed back to their table as they said their 'see you later's.

* * *

Maddy was leading her brother down the halls of Hogwarts, on the way to the kitchens, Nico had approached her as she was exiting Transfiguration, obviously still exhausted and not paying any mind to the mortals they were around, so she decided to get him some food and answer the questions he had, leaving her friends to go to lunch in the Great Hall.

"What is this place?" He asked as the entered to dungeons.

"My school," Maddy replied. "Hogwarts, is what it's called."

"That's a stupid name."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

"What's with the moving stairs and pictures and the _robes_?" He eyes Maddy's slightly too big, black Hogwarts robes.

"Well, you see-" Maddy reached out and tickled the pear on the fruit bowl painting. It began squirming and laughing and turned into a green doorknob.

"What in the Hades?" Nico was looking oddly at Maddy who shrugged.

"Um, magic not belonging to Hecate's children is real. And fyi, magical creatures work in the kitchens, so don't kill them," she said as she gripped the doorknob, turned it and opened the newly formed doorway.

"What can we get for sir and miss?" One of the house elves squeaked. Nico and Maddy informed them of what they wanted to eat and drink. "Right away, sir, miss!"

"What are those?" Nico asked as the one who'd taken their orders turned away.

"House elves," Maddy explained, "they're magical creatures who are kind of... enslaved I guess would be the right word, they apparently get _really_ offended if you try to pay. But they like it, for the most part. There's one that's been bothering one of my friends who doesn't seem to be like it that much, but all the others love it."

"So this is a magic school?"

"Yep, we've got wands and everything," Maddy took out her own Yew wand. The dark paint was flaking off a bit at the tip and even more at the handel.

"Oh, do you fly on broomstick too?"

"Actually, yes. I was forced onto one last year, I think you already know that I almost died. Lightning hit just like thirty feet away and no one else understood why I was so terrified even after that fateful lesson. I skived off the rest of them though, so it ended up being fine."

"Wow, what other stereotypes are true?"

"Well, we wear pointed hats on special occasions."

"Do the others know?"

"Well, I kind of thought it was sort of a thing to not tell people, I'm not entirely sure why, but I was actually kind of toying with the idea of telling them over Christmas. And the people here don't know about me being a demigod, that might change sometime soon since you just said 'where in the name of Tartarus am I?' in front of two people who are smart enough to figure out what that means although only one of them probably cares at all."

"Sorry," Nico sighed.

"Nah, it's fine," Maddy waved off the apology.

"Here is misses and master's food," the house elf said and handed them their food.

"Thanks," Maddy said to the elf then turned back to her half brother, "anyway, I have another favour to ask you. I think I found another person I need to talk to, it's really important but I'm not sure if they're actually dead or what their full name is. All I have is T. M. Riddle, can you help with that?"

"I don't know, why can't you just ask dad about him?"

"Fine," Maddy sighed. With a goodbye, Nico shadow travelled away. Maddy sighed, not looking forward to having to explain what had happened to her friends. She decided to just stick with the 'he was really exhausted' story.

Maddy made sure to keep the diary on her, sometimes Hermione would take it to try and figure out how to get it to spill it's secrets, so far, she hadn't succeeded.

The heads of the houses went around their house tables at breakfast two weeks into December to get the names of the people who would be staying at Hogwarts for the holidays, this year only Maddy and Bella were leaving, Maddy couldn't wait to get back to Camp to give Annabeth more pictures of Hogwarts' architecture and talk to her father about Riddle.

Maddy, Bella, Harry and Ron had taken to asking the ghosts about the Chamber of Secrets and T. M. Riddle when Elliot was doing whatever it was that she did and Hermione was working with the diary. So far, they had learned nothing about the Chamber and only heard the same thing from the ghosts -Tom riddle was a model student, head boy, Slytherin, perfect in every way, everyone looked up to him, discovered who was opening the Chamber in his fifth year this last one came from Nearly Headless Nick.

"Who opened it then?" Harry asked him, the four of them leaned forward, listening intently.

"Hm... I believe it was Rubeus Hagrid," Nick said thoughtfully.

"Hagrid?" Bella asked.

"Yes," Nick nodded, his almost severed head bouncing oddly on his neck.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked.

"Yes, he was caught with some sort of dangerous creature."

"That sounds like Hagrid," Maddy sighed. "Okay, let's go." She turned and began walking away, the other three said goodbye to Nick and followed her to Hagrid's hut. Their path was obscured by Lockhart, who was speaking to Hagrid by the gate leading to his hut, something about roosters. Hagrid looked grim, well, anyone would while speaking to Lockhart.

"Hagrid," Maddy said quickly, he looked considerably happier at the excuse to get away from Lockhart.

"Excuse me, professor," Hagrid said to Lockhart. "This seemed urgent."

"It is," Harry nodded, Ron and Bella were nodding as well. Before Lockhart could protest -which he _was_ going to do- Hagrid ushered the four Second years into his hut.

"Now, what's this about?" He asked.

"We heard that you opened the Chamber of Secrets last time it was opened," Maddy blurted, excitement from getting close to solving the whole Chamber of Secrets thing obscuring her sense of rational thought and preserving others feelings. Hagrid sighed like an old man and sat in his chair.

"So you heard about that?"

"Just now, from Nearly Headless Nick," Bella nodded.

"It wasn't really you, was it, Hagrid?" Ron asked.

"'Course not," Hagrid shook his head.

"Then why'd Nick say it was you?" Harry asked.

"Well, I was caught with one of my pets, Aragog, and everyone thought he was what was petrifying everyone. O' course, thanks to Dumbledore I was kept out of Azkaban and was made Gamekeeper." he seemed the tear up as he said, "Great man, Dumbledore."

"So you didn't open it?" Maddy asked, Hagrid shook his head.

"Well, who did, then?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, don't 'spect anyone actually knows," Hagrid said. "The attacks stopped after I was expelled." Maddy's mood deflated at hearing that, at least Hagrid wasn't guilty, even if they weren't any closer to figuring out who the Heir was.

They got away without having to eat any rock cakes, though all their pockets were weighed down with them. Maddy decided instead of throwing them into her fire jar, she would set them in Malfoy's dorm and see if he would eat them.

One day, Maddy woke up by a loud commotion in the common room that somehow floated back into the second year's dormitories. She got out of breath, got dressed, made sure her hair was placed properly in front of her eye went to see what that excited sounds were. Elliot was standing at the back of the crowd, able to look over many of the people -she got lucky with genetics and was as tall as some of the fifth years- and was grinning.

"What's going on?" Maddy asked, yawning greatly, not even able to look over some of the first years.

"Duelling club," Elliot replied. "It's going to be brilliant, imagine how amusing watching people fail miserably at simple defensive spells is going to be!"

"D'you know how to duel?"

"Yeah, my dad, while still a huge arse, is really over protective. It's weird but pretty much the only time he talks to me is when he's teaching me to duel. He literally got me a wand when I was eight so I could learn how to protect myself."

"That explains why you can do _everything_ ," Maddy groaned. "Gods."

"No, I'd still be this amazing even if I got my wand at the same time as everyone else." Maddy rolled her eyes.

"When's the first meeting?" She asked, trying to look through the gaps between people.

"Tonight in the Great Hall," Elliot said.

"Who's teaching?"

"Oi! Move!" Elliot exclaimed as a seventh year moved a bit to the right, stopping right in front of her. He didn't move, so Elliot shuffled over, grumbling as she did, and said, "It doesn't say. Flitwick might, he was a duelling champion in his youth, McGonagall's also pretty good with duelling. Although, if Lockhart teaches that'd be both awful and amazingly hilarious and I might be able to embarrass him even more!"

"That sounds great, definitely do it if he is," Maddy said.

At eight o'clock Maddy and Elliot met Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bella in the entrance hall, they entered the Great Hall together, speculating on what they would learn -Elliot was rather adamant that they'd be learning _Protego_ as it was the most basic shield charm- and who would be teaching, they all agreed that they would prefer it if Lockhart _didn't_ teach -sans Elliot, who wanted to embarrass him, and Hermione, who somehow _still_ looked up to him.

In the Great Hall the the house tables were pushed to the side and a golden stage was placed in the centre of the room lit by thousands of floating candles. The ceiling was completely dark, either the enchantment to make it look like the outside sky was taken away or there weren't any stars or the moon visible in the sky. It seemed like all of Hogwarts was packed into the hall.

Bella cursed under her breath when they all noticed that Lockhart was walking onto the stage("Hell yes!" Elliot had hissed with a mischievous glint in her eyes) dressed in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black. Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions -for full details, see my published works.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile.

"Oo, I bet Snape _loves_ being called his assistant," Maddy said.

"He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"Wouldn't it be great if they finished each other off?" Ron said.

"If there is a god they will," Elliot said. Yep, they'll finish each other off. Brilliant!

"Or, you know, if luck is on our side," Bella added.

Snape had adopted a look of utter disdain and hatred, his lip curled upward, and Maddy decided that Lockhart either had nerves of steal or was absolutely completely oblivious because he was _still_ grinning like a madman and anyone would have gone running for the hills at being faced with that gaze.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with as much twirling of his hands that he could possibly manage without hitting someone or dropping his wand, whereas Snape simply jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured.

"One - two - three!" Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: " _Expelliarmus_!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Hermione was dancing on tiptoes.

"Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

"Who cares?" said Harry and Ron together.

Bella and Maddy were laughing so hard they were clinging onto each other and Elliot yelled, "Nice job, professor! Use _Confringo_ next!"

"Why would you suggest _Confirgo_?" Hermione exclaimed.

"What's _Confringo_?" Harry asked.

"Makes fire burst at your target," Elliot said happily. "It can be deadly too."

Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm, as you see, I've lost my wand -ah, thank you, Miss Brown- yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy, however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see..." Snape was looking murderous. Hopefully he would use _Confringo_. Possibly Lockhart had noticed this, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me-"

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Ron before they could be paired together.

"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter-" Harry moved automatically toward Hermione. "I don't think so," said Snape, smiling coldly. " , come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger, you can partner Miss Bulstrode. Miss Mender, partner with Parkinson. Miss de la Mare-"

"Professor, that was amazing back there, may I suggest using _Confringo_ next time?" Elliot interrupted him.

"Oh my gods," Maddy said quietly, planting her face into the palm of her hand.

"Miss de la Mare, you partner with , and Miss Nevra, you're partner will be Miss Brown," Snape ordered and turned to pair up the next people.

"Did you just try to suck up to him?" Maddy asked as Snape walked away.

"Yes," Elliot said. "And I wouldn't call it sucking up because I truly believe what I said, I was just trying to not get put with someone I hate. I ended up getting a sixth year I hate. Yay me, so much for trying to appease your superiors. Watch me kick this guy's arse, though." With that she made her way over to Marcus Flint and Maddy sought out Pansy Parkinson.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!" Parkinson and Maddy just ducked their heads slightly, glaring at each other.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents -only to disarm them- we don't want any accidents - one... two... three!"

Parkinson and Maddy shouted ' _Expelliarmus_!' at the same time, the red jets hit each other and dissolved. Maddy could hear Lockhart yell, "I said _disarm_ only!" as Malfoy burst out in laughter.

Parkinson opened her mouth but Maddy shouted, " _Langlock_!" and Parkinson's tongue was stuck to the top of her mouth, causing her to be unable to speak, and thus unable to cast any spells. Parkinson launched herself at Maddy, who quickly sidestepped the action and said, " _Petrificus Totalus_!" Parkinson could no longer move. Maddy laughed triumphantly.

She then took the time to look around at how everyone else was doing, both Neville and Justin Finch-Fletchley were lying on the floor, panting, Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus Finnegan, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done, Bella was standing over Lavender Brown, who looked queasy, pale and _very_ pimply, Elliot was sitting on the ground, glowering in a terrifying way at Marcus Flint who was sneering at her, Maddy could see Elliot very subtly holding up her index and middle fingers in a V shape at the sixth year -very classy, Elliot- Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving; Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain, both of their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Harry leapt forward and pulled Millicent off of Hermione.

"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan..."

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair, Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you-"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile. Maddy was completely certain that Snape was just trying to make Harry's life utter Tartarus.

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Malfoy into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. "Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this." He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops, my wand is a little overexcited." Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear. Malfoy smirked, too. That couldn't be good.

Harry looked up nervously at Lockhart and said, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"

Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"

"What, drop my wand?" But Lockhart wasn't listening.

"Three - two - one - go!" he shouted.

Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, " _Serpensortia_!" A giant snake burst out of his wand, Maddy could hear Elliot curse.

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it..."

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Maddy resisted the urge to clap a slow, sarcastic clap.

Harry look at the snake angrily and _hissed_ something. He actually _hissed_ and the snake _listened_. Elliot was groaning, everyone else was looking on in horror, awe or confusion as the snake slumped down, docile, and limp.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin yelled, then stormed out of the hall. Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Ron walked up to Harry, said something to him and dragged him out of the hall, Hermione, Bella, Maddy and Elliot followed them. They ended up in an empty classroom.

Ron pushed Harry into a chair and said, "You're a parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, El-" Harry stopped upon making eye contact with Elliot, who was glaring at him, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. "It's illegal, isn't is?"

"Well, yes, but it isn't enforced with parselmouths!" Bella exclaimed.

"I know."

"Did Elliot know?" Maddy asked.

"Er... yes." Elliot groaned again at this answer.

"Honestly, Harry, that was stupid, why would you even speak parseltongue after I _told_ you it's a dark magic and that the last open parselmouth was You-Know-Who?" Elliot demanded.

"So you knew that Harry's a parselmouth and you didn't bring it up?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yes," Elliot said flatly, not caring to elaborate or continue on from that one word.

"What'd you say to that snake?" Hermione asked.

"I told it to lay off Justin!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh wait a minute!" Maddy exclaimed. "The Heir of Slytherin had to be a parselmouth!"

"Are there any other parselmouths?" Bella asked. "Because if not you're definitely going to be blamed for the Chamber."

"Well, El-" Harry was cut off by Elliot clamping a hand over his mouth and smiling innocently.

"Elliot," Hermione said sternly. Elliot scowled and drew her hand back away from Harry's mouth, he frowned at her, her scowled deepened and her eyes narrowed at him.

"Fine, yes," she sighed eventually. "I'm a parselmouth, but you all already know that I'm a descendant of Slytherin, it's just that not _everyone_ with his blood is a parselmouth and we all know I'm even _less_ likely to be opening the Chamber of Secrets than Harry."

"None of us were going to accuse you of opening the Chamber," Hermione sighed.

"You'd probably open it for entertainment," Maddy added.

"Yep," Bella nodded in agreement.

"How come you both know about each other being parselmouths?" Ron asked.

"Detention with Lockhart," Elliot said. "And I'd prefer it if my being a parselmouth wasn't broadcasted, Harry's already ruined it for himself-"

"I didn't even know I was speaking parseltongue!" Harry exclaimed.

"-but I really would prefer it if nobody else knows that I'm one as well. Also, the information would somehow get to my dad which would lead to me getting a Howler about me not being careful enough or something."

"But Harry isn't a descendant of Slytherin, right?" Bella asked. "You have to be to be a parselmouth and none of the genealogy charts get anywhere near connecting him to anyone other than Gryffindor other than his grandmum."

"Maybe they missed something?" Maddy suggested.

"They can't," Hermione said. "They're enchanted so whenever someone new is born or married into the family they get added on."

"So it's a mystery," Ron sighed.

"Well, I'm tired, aren't you lot?" Elliot asked. "I'm off to bed."

"It's nine!" Hermione exclaimed.

"And somewhere it's two in the morning," she replied and walked away. Then she popped her head back into the classroom and said, "And for the record, I practically killed Flint, he did _not_ knock me onto my back."


	7. Bad News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very late once again. Sorry. I blame exams and family. But hey, shit happens this chapter so yay

**Chapter 7: Bad News**

Rumors began floating around school that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin, especially from the second year Hufflepuffs, Harry had actually gotten in a fight with Ernie MacMillian in the library about it. The Slytherins were getting increasingly annoying about that, constantly complaining that he _couldn't_ be the Heir because he's a Gryffindor, friends with Hermione(or 'that filthy mudblood' as several of them liked to call her) and didn't have a drop of Slytherin blood in him -apparently _everyone_ from a non blood traitor pureblood family could very easily get their way around a genealogical chart, and Maddy had taken a peek at those longer ones and she didn't understand them at all.

The accusations really didn't get better when Harry stumbled onto a petrified Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick -that had honestly alarmed Maddy to a great extent, she had been pretty sure that there wasn't a ghost version of getting petrified- the very day was when he had gotten in a fight with MacMillian. Peeves had begun singing about Harry going around petrifying people("Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done? You're killing off students, you think it's good fun.") and Maddy was torn between bemusement and being completely and utterly annoyed by it but she didn't do anything about it because she found Harry's frustration towards the poltergeist to be fairly amusing, Elliot egged Peeves on and would occasionally join in on the singing, nobody else was amused in any way.

Fred and George seemed to be the only people other than Elliot and Maddy to find the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' thing utterly hilarious. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through!" Percy Weasley deeply disapproved of their behavior which seemed to make them act even more like Harry was the Heir, shouting it even louder in the hallways, pretending to converse with Harry in very convincing hisses and hexing Harry so there was a little green snake firmly planted on his face that would move around and hiss, though it would only last for a very short time(according to Harry and Elliot the snakes said some very disturbing things when they were about to disappear)

The double attack really wigging people out so almost everyone was withdrawing their names from the list of people staying at Hogwarts, it seemed like only Harry, Ron, Hermione, Elliot, Malfoy and a small number of his gang were staying behind to Ron and Harry's utter disdain and Elliot glee -she found this to be the perfect opportunity to do something awful to them- Hermione mostly didn't care.

The day that they were to be leaving for the holidays Hermione pulled Maddy aside into an empty part of the library. And Hermione had made sure it was _very_ empty, nobody was in the library besides some fifth years, some seventh years and a small handful of a few others -mostly Slytherins and Ravenclaws- sprinkled around the library either working on homework or studying.

"What's this about, Hermione?" Maddy sighed. "I'm supposed to be leaving in under half an hour."

"Yes, I know," Hermione fidgeted nervously, biting her bottom lip. She shoved her hand into her pocket and brought out a fist, whatever she was holding it wasn't big, "but you dropped this the other day and..." she trailed off as she dropped whatever she was holding into the hand Maddy had held out.

The daughter of Hades paled when she saw what it was; it was a gold coin, slightly larger than a galleon with Greek writing around it. A drachma. She began internally yelling curses at herself for not noticing that she had dropped it, when could she have even dropped it? She kept them in her bag, not her pocket!

"It was when you gave me the book on Slytherin's history," she said as if reading Maddy's mind. "It fell out of your bag, I picked it up after you left. Anyway, I didn't recognize it or the language written on it, so I started researching-" that explained all the time in library "-and it wasn't until that boy you said was your brother came here, which was really odd and you evaded pretty much every question about him we asked, anyway, that's when I started looking at the things on Greece." Oh gods, here it comes. "I just came across something that makes sense last night, you're a demigod, aren't you?" By this point Hermione had pulled a book titled _Ancient Religions and their Disciples_ out of her bag and was clutching it tightly, knuckled white.

Maddy sighed and said, "Well, it seems like everyone's finding out everyone else's secrets this month, I wonder what January's theme'll be. Maybe not telling the truth at all, that would be fun." Hermione looked at her blankly.

"So I'm right?"

"Yeah, yeah you are," Maddy nodded.

"So, who's you're parent?"

"Who do you think?"

"Hmm... well that depends, are you Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Az-"

"Greek," Maddy cut Hermione off. "I thought that'd be fairly obvious from the drachma." She held up the aforementioned item and Hermione blushed in embarrassment. "So?" Maddy prodded, curious to find out what Hermione thought."

"I would say Apollo since you heal fast but you don't use a bow," Hermione began slowly, staring intently at Maddy. "Ares?"

"Nope."

"Hmm... Athena?" Maddy shook her head. "Hades?"

"That's the one."

"Really?"

"Yep," Maddy nodded.

"I guess that explains your affinity with ghosts," she said, then added, "and that thing you do when you just disappear. Why'd you get gaunt and develop bags under your eyes?"

"It comes with using my fantastic underworldly powers," Maddy replied happily. "I practiced a lot over the break because I really haven't gotten to before and I had a really amazing excuse to do so too."

"Why weren't you able to practice before?"

"Well, you see, us children of Hades, people don't really like us. There's this whole thing with Zeus, Poseidon and Hades not supposed to have children after the second world war because the four big powers at the time were their children but they all failed _miserably_ at that pact. Not to mention, there's a whole _thing_ with children of Hades, part of it's like insanity related, the other parts are just people being like 'oh your dad rules the Underworld, he's probably shitty' although, I think the fact that my father chooses whether or not you suffer for eternity would be a reason to suck up _big time_. Anyway, I didn't tell people he was my dad until about a month before I came to Hogwarts and that wasn't even by choice. So, not a lot of time to practice."

"Which four bigs powers?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, well, Roosevelt was a son of Zeus, Churchill; Poseidon and Mussolini and Hitler were sons of Hades. I think you can guess which of my direct family member I'm _not_ visiting over the break."

"Wow. Why'd you have an 'amazing' reason to practice over break?"

Maddy paused for a moment before saying, "Reasons." Hermione scowled at her.

"Something happened to your face," she said, concerned, stopping Maddy before she left. "I think, anyway, I've noticed something... different when your hair moves." Maddy groaned.

"It's really not something I'd like to talk about right now, I'll answer more questions you have after the break. Right now I've got to pick up the last of my stuff, go home and then die for about an hour."

"Oh, okay. Write us if you find anything out about the Chamber or who the Heir might be. Oh, and that reminds me, can you talk to dead people?"

"Already talked to Slytherin, that's actually why my brother was here, he's the one who can summon the dead, the most I can do is a mindless skeleton that does whatever I want until I get exhausted and then _poof_. I'm more of the make it cold and control shadows and summon bones to throw in your face variety than the summon ghosts kind. I can control them though, which is why Peeves listens to me. Also, Slytherin had no idea who his Heir could be, only that they have to speak parseltongue. He also said that the beast is a basilisk but that isn't possible because basilisks aren't found in the United Kingdom and it's actually kind of rare to find them outside of the Americas, not to mention basilisks breathe fire and have poisonous skin, but they don't petrify people. That was a lot longer than I meant it to be, um, I'm leaving now so I can get home in time for breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"New York's about five hours behind, breakfast's at six thirty for the late risers."

"Oh, well, how're you supposed to get there in half an hour?"

"One of the perks of being a child of Hades; shadow travel. It's basically apparition but without the noise and I can go anywhere with a shadow. For the most part. I don't know why but last year with the Philosopher's Stone I wasn't able to go past that fire Harry went through, I tried but I just couldn't."

"I'm definitely asking you more questions after the break," Hermione said. Maddy laughed.

"I wouldn't expect anything different," she smiled. "I should get going, collect the rest of my stuff, you know."

"Of course," Hermione nodded, "I'm just going to try to look for some books one the founders, that book on Salazar Slytherin was pretty interesting." Maddy laughed again.

"Okay, see you later," Maddy waved and walked away.

When she was just barely out of the library she was stopped by someone saying, "Excuse me." The voice was definitely a girls and rather airy. Maddy turned to see that girl she'd noticed at the Sorting Ceremony, she couldn't remember her name or house, she guessed she was in Ravenclaw as she had a bronze and blue scarf wrapped around her neck. She was a fairly peculiar looking girl, she was wearing a necklace with some kind of cork attached to it and she was wearing radish earrings.

"You should be prepared for bad news," she said. It wasn't a threatening or warning sort of tone she spoke in, she sounded like she genuinely wanted Maddy to be prepared for something bad.

"Er... why?" Maddy asked, the girl shook her head.

"I'm Luna, Luna Lovegood," she said, her hand outstretched, completely ignoring her question.

"Maddy Mender," Maddy said distractedly. "What d'you mean I should be prepared for bad news?"

"We'll see each other again sometime," Luna adjusted her bag and walked away. That was honestly very strange, but Maddy was pretty sure she had something to be worried about.

Maddy decided to go back into the library, she found Hermione, told her about her encounter with Luna and, since Hermione shared her worry, she told her bushy haired friend how contact her via IM as well as the _Sanctus_ spell and handed her a drachma.

Maddy, with time to kill, decided to examine Riddle's diary. She didn't get anywhere and couldn't think of anything to try on it but she still ended up waiting too long before realizing that she should have gone about an hour before. She decided to visit her father first since the diary was on her mind. Maybe he'd have an idea of what to do, or at least know if Tom Riddle was dead or not.

"Father, I was wondering," Maddy began after she'd arrived in Hades' Palace and they had exchange greetings. "Have you ever heard of a wizard named Tom M. Riddle?"

Hades eyes suddenly flared with anger and he made a very loud, very angry sound almost like a roar. "That cheater of death!" He yelled, voice thunderously loud. "What is he doing now?" He demanded.

"Well, the sister of one of my friends had his diary and we got it off her but it's completely blank, she'd been holding onto it really tightly too. We think it's cursed," she held out Riddle's diary. Her father took it and grew even angrier.

"This is a horcrux," he stated, knuckles pure white. "A piece of soul, it's a way to cheat death. This diary must have been sucking the soul out of your friends' sister."

"It hasn't done anything to me or Hermione."

"She must have been using it, talking to him. I'll extract the soul," he put his hand on the diary but was stopped.

"Wait!" Maddy exclaimed. "I agree that it should be destroyed but you said Ginny was talking to it, can I talk to it?" Hades sent her a piercing look. "I just want to see if he knows what's at Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin said it's a basilisk but those don't petrify and aren't even in the UK and this diary's the only way I can get any more information on what's happening without somehow stumbling into the Chamber of Secrets, which is unlikely since it hasn't been found since it was made!" Hades sighed and removed his hand from the diary. "Just let me talk to it for a bit, please?"

"Fine," he handed back the diary, "but I'll be watching the conversation."

"Thanks," she plopped down in one of the chairs at the table, pulled a quill and inkwell from her bag and opened the diary. She took out her wand and said, " _Oculi Anglicus Graeco_." She dipped her quill in the ink and wrote ' _Tom Riddle?_ '

The words were soaked into the diary and eventually replaced by ' _Yes?_ '

' _What do you know of the Chamber of Secrets?_ '

' _Who are you? How did you come across my diary?_ '

' _I'm Maddy and I really don't think it matters how I came across your diary. Do you know anything about the Chamber or not?_ '

' _Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who'd opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the Headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned_.'

' _That's happening again now. Who died?_ '

' _A girl named Myrtle Warren._ '

' _Moaning Myrtle?_ '

' _Yes, I believe that is what she's called now._ '

' _Who opened the Chamber the last time?_ '

' _I can show you_ ,' this one came after a bit of a pause.

Maddy was confused, she dipped her quill in the inkwell again and wrote, ' _Okay_.' The pages began to blow as if a strong gust of wind had blown by, she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder and before she knew what was happening she found herself in a large, circular office, Hades standing beside her with his hand on her shoulder. A wizened, frail-looking wizard, bald except for a few wisps of white hair, was reading a letter by candlelight. Maddy had never seen this man before.

"Uh..." Maddy said a little awkwardly, fighting for words. The old man didn't seem to notice them.

"This is a memory," Hades said. "He can't hear, see, smell or touch us."

"Oh."

The wizard folded up the letter with a sigh, stood up, walked past Maddy and Hades without glancing at him, and went to draw the curtains at his window. It was sunset. The wizard went back to the desk, sat down, and twiddled his thumbs, watching the door. There was a knock on the office door.

"Enter," said the old wizard in a feeble voice. A boy of about sixteen entered, taking off his pointed hat. A silver prefect's badge was glinting on his chest. He was much, _much_ taller than Maddy, his hair was jet black and he gave off an air of superiority. "Ah, Riddle," said the Headmaster. Maddy noticed her father's jaw tighten

"You wanted to see me, Professor Dippet?" said Riddle. He looked nervous.

"Sit down," said Dippet. "I've just been reading the letter you sent me."

"Oh," said Riddle. He sat down, gripping his hands together very tightly.

"My dear boy," said Dipper kindly, "I cannot possibly let you stay at school over the summer. Surely you want to go home for the holidays?"

"No," said Riddle at once. "I'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than go back to that-to that-"

"You live in a Muggle orphanage during the holidays, I believe?" said Dippet curiously.

"Yes, sir," said Riddle, reddening slightly.

"You are Muggleborn?"

"Half blood, sir," said Riddle. "Muggle father, witch mother."

"And are both your parents-?"

"My mother died just after I was born, sir. They told me at the orphanage she lived just long enough to name me -Tom after my father, Marvolo after my grandfather." Dippet clucked his tongue sympathetically.

"The thing is, Tom," he sighed, "Special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances..."

"You mean all these attacks, sir?" said Riddle, Maddy shuffled a little closer, escaping from her father's very loose grasp in order to hear everything they said in perfect clarity.

"Precisely," said the headmaster. "My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy... the death of that poor little girl... You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the, er, source of all this unpleasantness..." Riddle's eyes had widened.

"Sir, if the person was caught - if it all stopped-"

"What do you mean?" said Dippet with a squeak in his voice, sitting up in his chair. "Riddle, do you mean you know something about these attacks?"

"No, sir," said Riddle quickly, but Maddy was certain that wasn't a sincere 'no.' Dippet sank back, looking faintly disappointed.

"You may go, Tom..." Riddle slid off his chair and slouched out of the room. Maddy and Hades followed him. Down the moving spiral staircase they went, emerging next to the gargoyle in the darkening corridor. Riddle stopped, thinking hard about... something, there was no way to tell unless he miraculously started talking out loud, which Maddy didn't see happening. He was biting his lip, his forehead furrowed. Then, as though he had suddenly reached a decision, he hurried off.

They didn't see another person until they reached the entrance hall, when a tall wizard with long, sweeping auburn hair and a beard called to Riddle from the marble staircase. "What are you doing, wandering around this late, Tom?"

He was none other than a fifty-year-younger Dumbledore. Maddy held back laughter, his hair clashed _terribly_ with his flamboyant robes and she could just imagine the Aphrodite cabin going absolutely batshit over it. "I had to see the headmaster, sir," said Riddle.

"Well, hurry off to bed," said Dumbledore. "Best not to roam the corridors these days. Not since..." He sighed heavily, bid Riddle good night, and strode off. Riddle watched him walk out of sight and then, moving quickly, headed straight down the stone steps to the dungeons. They walked into Snape's Potions room. The torches hadn't been lit, and when Riddle pushed the door almost closed, he could only just be seen by Maddy, standing stock-still by the door, watching the passage outside. She heard something move beyond the door. Someone was creeping along the passage, she heard whoever it was pass the dungeon where she, her father and Riddle were hidden. Riddle, quiet as a shadow, edged through the door and followed.

For perhaps five minutes they followed the footsteps, until Riddle stopped suddenly, his head inclined in the direction of new noises. Maddy heard a door creak open, and then someone speaking in a hoarse whisper.

"C'mon... gotta get yeh outta here... C'mon now... in the box..." The voice was familiar. Riddle suddenly jumped around the corner. Maddy followed and she could see the dark outline of a huge boy who was crouching in front of an open door, a very large box next to it.

"Evening, Rubeus," said Riddle sharply. The boy slammed the door shut and stood up.

"Oh come on," Maddy groaned. "I already know Hagrid _didn't_ do it."

"What yer doin' down here, Tom?" Riddle stepped closer as Hagrid spoke.

"It's all over," he said. "I'm going to have to turn you in, Rubeus. They're talking about closing Hogwarts if the attacks don't stop. I don't think you meant to kill anyone. But monsters don't make good pets. I suppose you just let it out for exercise and-"

"He never killed no one!" said the young Hagrid, backing against the closed door. From behind him, Maddy could hear a funny rustling and clicking.

"Come on, Rubeus," said Riddle, moving yet closer. "The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered..."

"It wasn't him!" roared the boy, his voice echoing in the dark passage. "He wouldn't! He never!"

"Stand aside," said Riddle, drawing out his wand. His spell lit the corridor with a sudden flaming light. The door behind the large boy flew open with such force it knocked him into the wall opposite and out of it came a vast, low-slung, hairy body and a tangle of black legs; a gleam of many eyes and a pair of razor-sharp pincers. Riddle raised his wand again, but he was too late. The thing bowled him over as it scuttled away, tearing up the corridor and out of sight. Riddle scrambled to his feet, looking after it; he raised his wand, but the young Hagrid leapt on him, seized his wand, and threw him back down, yelling, "NOOOOOO!"

The scene whirled, the darkness became complete; Maddy felt herself falling and, with a crash, she landed spread out on the ground in Hades' Palace, her father right beside her. She was irritated, that didn't help at all. She grabbed the book again.

' _I know Hagrid didn't actually open the Chamber, he isn't even a parselmouth, you have to be to be the Heir of Slytherin and he'd be considered an enemy of the Heir anyway._ ' She paused, the words sunk into the diary, there was no response, she was struck with a thought and she wrote, ' _It was you, wasn't it? You framed him._ ' The diary slammed shut.

"I don't think you'll be getting any more answers out of it," Hades said.

"Probably not," Maddy sighed. "I have someone else to talk to when I get back to school now anyway." She handed the diary back to him. He rested his hand on it, slowly pulling it back up, a dark, smokey mist rose up out of the diary with his hand. He flicked his hand and a jar appeared in his hand, the mist flew into the jar and he sealed it immediately. He handed her the diary again.

"The horcrux has been removed," he said, "I have no use for it anymore and it shouldn't do anyone any harm." Maddy reached out and the minute the diary was back in her hands a rainbow popped up in front of her. She was met by a very pale and nervous looking Hermione.

"Hermione?" Maddy asked, worried. "What's happened?"

"Ginny - Chamber and Bella's been petrified!" She exclaimed, biting her bottom lip so hard Maddy could see little beads of blood forming.

" _What!_ How can I help? Have you found anything out?"

"We talked to Moaning Myrtle," she was speaking quietly, "Elliot remembered the name of the person who'd been killed the last time the Chamber opened, that's who it was, we talked to her and I was very quickly able to find a matching description, but you said it can't be a basilisk and that they don't petrify people but that's all I can find and they're completely different than how you explained them!"

"What's the description?" Maddy asked quickly. "It could be misnamed."

"An extremely large snake, the average size is about fifty feet. It's 'born from a chicken's egg' and 'hatched beneath a toad,' a roosters crow is fatal to it -that's why Hagrid's roosters have all died, I bet- spiders flee from it -remember when we saw all those spiders going away from the castle where was petrified?- it has venomous fangs and the eyes, if you look directly at the eyes you die, if you see a reflection you're petrified -the puddle under , Colin Creevey's camera and Justin Finch-Fletchley was looking through Nearly Headless Nick." Maddy swore, she recognized what Hermione was describing to her.

"Listen, Hermione, I'll be back there in a minute. Make sure Harry and Ron _don't_ go down there, I'm bringing help." Hermione nodded grimly and Maddy swiped through the Iris Message.

"Need to leave?" Hades asked, Maddy nodded.

"Sorry, I'll try to come by later," with that she shadow travelled to Camp Half Blood. She ran through the camp, eventually, she found Annabeth in Sword and Sheild practice.

"Annabeth!" She grabbed her arm just before she reached out to strike at her partner. "Listen, there's a drakon at my school. I need your help, d'you know where Percy is?"

"Probably at his mom's," Annabeth looked alarmed.

"Grab some weapons, I can't take a lot of people so I'm taking you and Percy." Maddy shadow traveled again, popping up in Percy's apartment, she hadn't been there before but Percy had told here where it was. "Percy!" She exclaimed, ignoring his startled mom, well he was startled too.

"Maddy-" Percy started.

"Drakon at my school - need help - you're coming," she didn't take the time to wait for an answer, grabbed Percy and shadow traveled them both back to Camp Half Blood. Annabeth was standing by Thalia's tree with an extra sword and knife as well as three shields. Maddy grabbed Annabeth and shadow traveled them to Hogwarts. She was utterly exhausted. Annabeth passed her and Percy shields.

"A drakon?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, we need to hurry, the sister of one of my friend's trapped with it."

"What's that?" Percy asked. He was looking at the wall, it read in blood red script ' _Her bones with lie in the Chamber forever_.' Maddy swore. She guessed where it would be best to find Harry, Ron, Elliot and Hermione, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Are the pictures moving?" Percy asked.

"Not the time! I'll explain when I make sure everyone stays alive!" Maddy exclaimed.

"Maddy!" Someone exclaimed from further down the hall, it sounded like Hermione.

"On our way!" Maddy yelled back.

"Who's that?" Percy asked.

"Some of my friends are going with us, only one of them knows about the gods so..." she trailed off as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Elliot and -oh gods- Lockhart came into view. "And also an idiot apparently is joining us. Why's Lockhart going?" She asked the last part louder.

"We're making him look like an incompetent prat," Ron said.

"He does that on his own, Ron," Elliot rolled her eyes.

"Who're they?" Harry asked, looking at Percy and Annabeth.

"Friends, they're helping. Now come on, Ginny's down there alone with a drakon!" Maddy exclaimed.

"Swords!" Lockhart exclaimed, eyeing Percy and Annabeth. "You aren't allowed-"

"Shove it," Ron growled. "If they're helping my sister it can wait!" They began to move down the halls as quickly as they could. They sent Lockhart into Myrtle's bathroom first, he was shaking and Maddy felt very pleased to see that.

Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the tank of the end toilet. "Oh, it's you," she said when she saw Harry. "What do you want this time?"

"We're in a bathroom and there's a ghost," Percy muttered.

"Percy, shut up," Maddy said quietly.

"Myrtle, where's the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked.

"Where'd you see they eyes come from?" Hermione clarified.

"Somewhere over there," Myrtle said gloomily as she pointed over to the sinks. Harry, Elliot and Hermione walked over to the sinks and began walking around them, Harry eventually -after Hermione said something to him- said something in parseltongue and the sink began to move. It sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

"I'm going down there," Harry said.

"If you try to suggest that the rest of us aren't going in after you," Maddy began, "I will not hesitate to hospitalize you after this. Do you understand how _exhausting_ getting here was and how dangerous drakons are!"

"Well, you hardly seem to need me," said Lockhart, with a shadow of his old smile. "I'll just-" He put his hand on the doorknob, but Ron, Harry, Hermione and Maddy all pointed their wands at him, Percy and Annabeth sent odd looks at Maddy.

"You can go first," Ron snarled. White faced and wandless, Lockhart approached the opening.

"Children," he said, his voice feeble. "Children, what good will it do?" Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand. Lockhart slid his legs into the pipe.

"I really don't think-" he started to say, but Ron gave him a push, and he slid out of sight.

"Good, now let's drop one of those sharp weapons down after him," Elliot said.

"Fantastic, Ron," Maddy smiled and leaped down the pipe. The others followed.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. She could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as the one she was sliding through, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and she knew that she was falling deeper below the school than the dungeons, probably the lake as well.

Maddy fell out of the pipe and landed with a thud, quickly scrambling out of the way, Harry fell out next, then Percy, Ron, Elliot, Hermione and, finally, Annabeth joined Maddy and Lockhart.

"We must be miles under the school," said Harry, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.

"Under the lake, probably," said Ron, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls.

"We're definitely under a body of water," Percy said, looking directly up, probably paying attention to something about the water above.

" _Lumos_ ," Harry and Hermione muttered, their and tips lit up, Ron's broken wand was digging into Lockhart's back, Elliot and Maddy were keeping their wands trained on Lockhart as well.

"So, magic," Annabeth said quietly. "When were you planning on telling us?"

"This break," Maddy admitted.

"That explains the pictures," Percy muttered. "So a _magic_ school."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you bring Maude?" Annabeth asked.

"No way am I bringing her here to face a drakon, it's too dangerous," Maddy shook her head.

"You can't expect to protect her, she's four years older than you and you honestly get hurt a whole lot more than she does."

"Yes, but I have more experience, I've lived at camp all my life; she started going when she was eleven," Maddy said. "And she's my best friend, I get to protect her. Not to mention, I wouldn't be able to bring her along, you two coming was extremely hard. The only reason I'm not asleep right now's because I'm running on pure adrenaline."

"Remember," Harry said as they walked cautiously forward, stopping the demigods' hushed conversation, "any sign of movement, close your eyes right away..."

"There's something up there," Percy said as they rounded a bend in the tunnel.

"It's just the drakon's skin," Maddy said, she could see through the darkness much better than the others, another child of Hades perk. They all walked forward.

"It's enormous," Hermione gaped.

"It's only about twenty feet," Annabeth said, surveying the shedded skin. "It could've easily gotten much bigger."

"I know," Hermione sighed, "it's just... so big!"

"Blimey," said Ron weakly. There was a sudden movement behind them. Lockhart's knees had given way. "Get up," said Ron sharply, pointing his wand at Lockhart. Lockhart got to his feet, then he dived at Ron, knocking him to the ground.

Maddy pulled on her spear pendant and pointed both her spear and wand at the man. Harry lunged at Lockhart, Hermione and Elliot aimed their wands at him, Percy was gripping his sword, Riptide, in pen form and Annabeth was holding her knife. They had all moved too late, Lockhart was pointing Ron's wand at the now wandless Weasley.

"The adventure ends here, children!" he said. "I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, that you five tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body and you two won't even be mentioned, say goodbye to your memories!" He raised the wand and shouted, " _Obliviate!_ " There was a bang and Lockhart was shot backwards, rocks fell from the ceiling.

"Ron, I am _so_ glad your wand's broken," Maddy said.

"Honestly, I would have killed something -probably you- if I got my memories erased," Elliot shook her head. "And the thought that simply seeing a dead person could drive me mad; absolutely barmy. Anyway, _so_ glad Lockhart can't teach now."

"Ron! Hermione! Maddy! Elliot!" Harry shouted, his voice came from the opposite side of the rock wall. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine!" Hermione called back.

"Lockhart isn't though," Maddy said.

"The git's spell backfired and he obliviated himself!" Ron practically laughed. "What now?" Ron's voice suddenly sounded desperate. "We can't get through. It'll take ages..."

"I think I can manage it," Maddy said, sending a pointed glance at Hermione before she could ask how. She shrunk her spear back down and aimed her wand at the rocks, it was just for show and she began mumbling incoherently under her breath so Ron and Elliot thought it was just spells. She bent down and pressed her non-wand hand to the ground. First, she hardened the part of the wall and ceiling that hadn't collapsed, then, she cleared a fairly large path through the rocks.

"How-?" Ron started.

"Great!" Hermione interrupted and pulled Ron through the passage. "Lockhart shouldn't follow..."

"I've got it," Maddy said and pointed her wand at the Defence teacher. " _Petrificus totalus_ ," she said and the blonde froze, falling over, unable to move.

"That's a pretty awesome spell," Percy grinned as the three demigods followed Ron and Hermione to Harry's side of the rock wall.

"Yep."

The seven of them ran through the tunnel, stopping at golden doors with silver snakes intertwining on it. Harry hissed something and the doors slowly opened.

"Lots of snakes," Percy said as he walked through the doors with the others, looking around. The chamber was dimly lit and filled with tall pillars. A statue of Salazar Slytherin stood in the back, Maddy had to admit that it was a bit creepy, though she did find the chamber to be a little homey if it weren't for the imminent danger; she was quite obviously the only who thought this.

"Ginny!" Ron suddenly exclaimed and he flung himself forward towards a small, red haired girl who was passed out in the ground, abandoning his wand on the floor. Harry and Hermione also ran to the youngest Weasley, all muttering and pleading about her not being dead.

"She's not dead," Maddy said, her grip on the shield Annabeth had given her tightened, "but she _is_ dying. Something's draining her life away. Quickly."

"Ginny, please wake up," Harry said quietly.

"She wont be waking up," someone new said. They all turned to see the speaker, Maddy immediately recognized him as Tom Riddle. He looked exactly the same as the memory, but somehow less solid. His edges were fuzzy.

"What do you mean she won't wake!" Ron demanded. "Who the hell are you anyway!"

"He's Tom Riddle," Maddy said. She noticed that just as Ginny was losing life, he was gaining it. "HE'S DRAINING GINNY OF HER LIFE!" Maddy suddenly yelled, pointing her wand at the older boy, he was smirking. He'd picked up the wands Harry and Ron had thrown to the ground.

Riddle lifted Harry's holly wand, pointed it at Maddy, Elliot, Annabeth and Percy and cooly said, " _Expelliarmus_." Everything the four of them were holding flew out of their hands, the weapons and shields clattered to the ground, echoing through the chamber as the tall boy caught the wands. Hermione stood and quickly drew her wand, Riddle repeated the spell and caught Hermione's wand as he had caught Maddy and Elliot's wands.

Maddy immediately yanked on her spear pendant once again, Percy's hand was in his pocket, waiting for Riptide to return. Riddle cast _Expelliarmus_ again and her spear flew across the room. Harry and Ron were hoisting Ginny up to her feet in a panic, her head limply lolled. Annabeth ran over to help them, Hermione backed her up, they were trying to get out as quick as possible.

"Hurry, before the drakon-" Annabeth was saying quietly but Riddle interrupted her.

"The _basilisk_ won't come until it's called," Riddle was twirling Harry's wand idly in his hand. Elliot was glaring at him, mostly his hand that held her wand, with a calculating gaze. She was probably thinking through the best opportunities to get back her wand.

"Give us back our wands," Elliot said stiffly, angrily, it was obvious that she was still trying to figure out how to _actually_ get them back. She was just stalling, trying to prevent Riddle from summoning the drakon.

"You won't be needing them," Riddle was smirking again.

"Why not?" Hermione asked.

"I've waited a long time for this. To talk to Harry Potter." When he said this Harry stopping, making Ron, Annabeth and Hermione stop as well.

"Come on," Ron said desperately, trying to get Harry to move. They began moving again, but Riddle flicked the wand he held and they couldn't get any closer to the door.

"Put down the wall!" Harry exclaimed, whirling around to face Riddle, pulling Ginny, Annabeth, Hermione and Ron with him, Ginny's still limp head jolted violently.

"We're going to talk now," Riddle smiled widely, pocketing the wands, one hand still lingered over the pocket with Harry's wand.

"How're you draining Ginny?" He demanded. Ginny was getting paler and paler, Maddy could tell she was on the edge, if she was incredibly lucky she had another hour at most. She very, very slowly began inching over to the closest shield.

"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginevra Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you going on about?" Ron demanded.

"The diary," said Riddle. " _My_ diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes -how her brothers _tease_ her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books-" Riddle's eyes glinted "-how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would _ever_ like her..." Maddy noticed Riddle's eyes float over to Harry's scar, she also noticed that there was an almost hungry look in them.

"It's very _boring_ , having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven year old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply _loved_ me. ' _No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket..._ '" Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh. "If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted... I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her..."

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.

"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Riddle softly. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and wrote threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered, Ron, who had gone very pale, screwed up his face, obviously restraining himself so he wouldn't drop his sister and Hermione let out a strangled cry.

"Yes," said Riddle, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries... far more interesting, they became... ' _Dear Tom_ ,'" he recited, "' _I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there_.' ' _Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Halloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front_.' ' _Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think he suspects me... There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad... I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!_ '

"Eventually, you managed to take the diary away from her, but I had already spent enough time with dear Ginny to be able to keep a connection with her. She didn't notice, but I was still able to control her. Feed on her.

"Then, Miss Madeline Mender here figured out how my diary worked as well," he turned away from Harry for the first time and looked at Maddy, the other looked at her as well.

"It was just after I left, I didn't have time to tell you guys," she said quickly.

"And I was delighted," Riddle continued. "Of course, Ginny had told me of you, very little but I knew you to be close friends with Harry, whom I was so anxious to meet..."

"Why'd you want to meet me?" Harry bristled.

"Well, you see, Ginny told me all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history." His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So when Maddy here began writing to me I showed her my famous capture of that oaf, Hagrid, to gain her trust. And I knew she'd tell you if this plan-"

"We already knew that Hagrid had been framed!" Hermione exclaimed.

Riddle laughed coldly. "Yes, I know. That plan ended rather badly. She knew more than I expected and I'm afraid it had the opposite effect than what I wanted, but it all worked out. Always trust that someone in danger's the best way to lure in a Gryffindor," he sneered, "even a lion in a snake's skin." He momentarily glanced over to Maddy.

"How'd the diary get here?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen year old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

"Well, you haven't finished it," said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few months the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be alright again-"

"Don't you get that killing mudbloods doesn't matter to me anymore?" Riddle scoffed. "For many months now, my new target has been _you_. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.

"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that _you_ -a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent- managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did _you_ escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how I escaped?" said Harry slowly. "Voldemort was after your time..."

"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter..."

He pulled Harry's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:

_TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE_

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

_I AM LORD VOLDEMORT_

"You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry, I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"

"You're not," Harry said, his quiet voice full of hatred and venom and it sounded like he was having trouble speaking.

"Not what?" snapped Riddle.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world," said Harry, breathing fast. "Sorry to disappoint you and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. He still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days-" The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.

"Harry!" Maddy yelled, tossing the shield to him and running to the next closest one. Percy pulled out Riptide and uncapped the pen once again and it grew into the three foot celestial bronze sword. Riddle had raised his wand and his mouth had begun to open but he stopped.

Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Maddy felt it vibrating inside her own bones, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.

A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping it's weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle. A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder. The bird stopped singing.

"That's a phoenix..." said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes?" Harry breathed.

"And that-" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat-"

"Why the hell's a phoenix giving you the Sorting hat?" Elliot asked him.

So it was. Patched, frayed, and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's feet. Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark Chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once, it made Maddy shiver.

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?" Harry didn't answer. "To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly. "Twice -in your past, in my future- we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common muggle born mother," he added, shaking. "She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul-"

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter charm. I can see now... there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike... but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know." Riddle's twisted smile was widening again. Maddy saw Elliot roll her eyes.

"Now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin, against famous Harry Potter, and the best weapons Dumbledore can give him..." He cast an amused eye over Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, then walked away. Riddle stopped between the high pillars and looked up into the stone face of Slytherin, high above him in the half-darkness. Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed.

Maddy and everyone else turned to look at the statue of Salazar Slytherin after both Elliot and Harry did. Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Maddy saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.

Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Maddy could almost see the giant serpentine monster uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Riddle hissed again, a menacing hiss.

"Harry, run!" Elliot yelled, dashing towards him and pushing him towards the door, but he wouldn't move. "Move, Harry! He's going to kill you!"

"Oh, so I was wrong about Harry and I being the only parselmouths?" Riddle asked, a delighted and amused gleam shimmered in his eyes. The drakon had begun to move towards them. Maddy grabbed her spear and Annabeth's knife. She threw the knife to the daughter of Athena who deftly caught it. Maddy began panicking, her friends needed their wands and she'd feel a hell of a lot safer with her own.

"Go!" Harry was saying to Ron and Hermione, who had taken his place in supporting the youngest Weasley. They were about to protest, then Harry said, "Get Ginny out of here!" They nodded and ran to the door, dragging Ginny with them. Harry clumsily ran to the side, Elliot right beside him.

"This is way more complicated than I expected," Percy mumbled.

"Not the time, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth exclaimed as Harry and Elliot begun running towards them with the drakon right behind them. Maddy ran out of the way, straight towards Riddle. She noticed that he was looking more and more solid by the minute, she held up her shield and kept barreling towards him, she thought he was distracted but he waved his wand and she found that she couldn't move. Maddy cursed loudly.

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Riddle said without turning to face the daughter of Hades.

Percy, being the brave idiot he was, had jumped onto the tail of the drakon, using his sword to try and pry the scales off, Fawkes was flying around the drakon's head, Annabeth and Elliot were running through the chamber, trying to keep it's attention off of Harry, who was at the Sorting Hat. Fawkes dived at the drakon's eyes, Hermione and Ron re-entered the chamber, narrowly avoiding being hit by the drakon's flailing tail.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed as Hermione shrieked. Harry was still standing by the hat, eyes closed, not paying attention to anything. He was facing away from Maddy so she couldn't see what he was doing.

Hermione seemed to catch on to what Annabeth and Elliot were doing as she said something quietly to Ron and they both joined the two girls running through the cave.

Riddle hissed something very loudly, very aggressively and very mad. Just as he did so he let out an 'oof' as Annabeth ran into him and took back the wands. She was about to start running again but before she could Riddle stood back up and had gripped the blonde girl's shoulder, it wasn't hard for her to escape his grip, she just kicked him in the gut, sending him back to the ground and she shot off again.

Maddy tried to move, but she still couldn't and she really felt like she had to move as Riddle looked seriously angry as he stood back up. He was sending orders to the drakon in rapid hisses, she could hear Elliot shouting out translations so the others knew what would be happening before it happened.

"Elliot!" Hermione yelled. "You're an heir of Slytherin! See if you can control this thing!" Elliot began violently hissing, the drakon responded at first but Riddle's own hisses overruled hers.

"Ignorant girl," he snapped. "I'm more powerful than you, and controlled the basilisk before you were even born. I have control over it."

Harry turned away from the Sorting Hat, a silver sword in his hand. Where could he have gotten that? Annabeth ran by and he took his wand back. Maddy could move again. She ran towards the two and got her wand as well.

"Brilliant, Annabeth," she grinned. The drakon's tail whipped again and this time it slammed right into Hermione, knocking her into the wall, unconscious. Ron was running from the other side of the chamber shouting her name and checking to make sure she was okay.

" _Protego!_ " Elliot shouted as the tail headed towards her as well, the magic shield only did enough to momentarily slow down the giant tail, she almost escaped from the tail but as she was ducking her arm got hit and Maddy could hear a sickening crack as it was forced back in a truly unnatural position. Elliot cried out in pain.

Maddy noticed Percy sitting on the floor, having fallen off of the tail but still conscious and not hurt, he was clearly dazed, however and his sword was lodged in an opening in the monster's scales. Annabeth ran over to him similar to how Ron had run to Hermione but she got very dazed results.

Maddy suddenly got an idea and turned to Harry, "Do you think you can defend yourself sufficiently for a minute?" He nodded and Maddy ran to a corner, whipped out her wand and said, " _Sanctus!_ " A rainbow came out, she pulled a galleon out of her bag and quickly recited the chant to Iris. The rainbow was quickly replaced with a picture of Hades talking to a very grumpy Persephone.

"Father!" She exclaimed, drawing his attention away from Persephone.

"Maddy?"

"If that horcrux was draining the life away from someone would there be a way to reverse it?" She asked quickly, wincing as the drakon lunged at Harry.

"Destroying the horcrux should do it."

"Could you destroy it? It's urgent."

"Yes, but the original vessel needs to be destroyed and not with just any substance, there's a particular metal made by goblins that can do it, Gryffindor's Sword is made of that, or you could use a drakon fang."

"Do they need to be destroyed at the same time?"

"No."

"Okay, I can get on destroying this," she pulled the diary out from her bag. "Thanks." With that she swiped through the Iris Message, dissolving it into mist. Harry was screaming. His sword was through the roof of the drakon's mouth and one of it's fangs was lodged in his arm. First she thought that that was great, she could use the fang to destroy the diary, then she shook the thought out of her head, Harry would die unless he got immediate help. Harry lost grip of the sword, he fell to the ground. Maddy ran forward, her spear out. The drakon was temporarily stunned, nothing but a godly metal could kill it, she just needed to get it in the mouth with her spear and it would be dead, but it wouldn't take long for the drakon to regain control of itself. Fawkes was sitting on Harry's shoulder again.

"You're dead, Harry Potter," said Riddle's voice above him. "Dead. Even Dumbledore's bird knows it. Do you see what he's doing, Potter? He's crying."

Maddy picked up speed, skidding to a halt in front of the drakon, she plunged her spear into the roof of it's mouth. It began to dissolve and it shot into the stygian iron blade, the sword clattered to the ground.

"I'm going to sit here and watch you die, Harry Potter. Take your time. I'm in no hurry," Riddle smirked.

"Harry," Maddy dropped down beside the Gryffindor, speaking very quietly. "Harry, I need the drakon fang." He looked up at her in a way she assumed would be incredulous if he wasn't so obviously utterly drained.

"So ends the famous Harry Potter," Riddle spoke as Maddy was speaking. "Alone in the Chamber of Secrets, defeated at last by the Dark Lord he so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear mudblood mother soon, Harry... She bought you twelve years of borrowed time... but Lord Voldemort got you in the end, as you knew he must..."

She shook her head at Harry, leaned over and pulled out the fang. She stared at the wound for a moment, Fawkes was crying and the minute one of his tears his the wound it immediately began to looked better, she grinned.

"Get away bird," Riddle demanded. "Get away from him. I said _get away_!" The next thing he said was quiet. "Phoenix tears... of course... healing powers... I forgot..." He looked over at the sword in contemplation and Maddy's wand, resting between her hand and the floor.

Maddy raised the drakon fang, Riddle's eyes widened when he spotted the diary, he lunged for the sword but before he could do anything with it she plunged the fang into the diary. Thick, black, blood-like ooze began to spray out, it got all over Maddy and Harry. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then he was gone.

"That was horrific," Ron said weakly, Maddy noticed that he was covered in scrapes and had a fairly bad limp.

"Well, this is not what I expected to happen when you popped up at my house and told me there was a drakon in your school," Percy said.

"Be quiet, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth shook her head. "You shouldn't be talking, you're head's hurt pretty bad." Percy looked at her with an exasperated expression.

Maddy went over to the still unconscious Hermione and brought her up, no one else could do it, Harry still couldn't stand and everyone else was hurt to bad except Annabeth who was holding up the still dazed Percy.

"Where'd you get the sword?" Ron gestured to the silver one Harry had had.

"Came out of the Sorting Hat," he gestured to the limp piece of fabric several feet away. He shakily climbed to his feet and grabbed the hat.

"We should get going," Elliot said. "I _really_ need to see Madam Pomphrey because this is incredibly painful." She gestured to her arms which was horribly broken and dislocated, she couldn't even move it and it was twisted in a horrible fashion that made Maddy a little queasy.

"I'll say," Ron said, looking a bit green. They seven of them left the chamber and were greeted by a sobbing Ginny who tackled Ron and Harry with a hug. She was fervently apologizing, but her words were mostly incoherent, though very loud and broken up by lots of sobs.

Eventually, they managed to get her to calm down -it took quite a while when she saw the injuries- and on their way back to Lockhart Maddy introduced Percy and Annabeth to her Hogwarts friends.

"Your Percy's better than ours," Ron said, making Maddy laugh.

"Definitely," she nodded. "Your Percy's too strict, I hope he doesn't get to be head boy next year, that would be absolute torture!"

"The power'd all go straight to his head," Ginny agreed, sniffing a bit.

"He does sound worse than Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, "but he's pretty hard to manage."

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed.

"No, Kelp Face is _way_ better than Percy Weasley," Maddy said.

"Odd place this is, isn't it?" Lockhart was sitting up and looking around like a newborn baby.

"Oh great, my spell didn't hold," Maddy sighed.

"How're we going to get back up?" Ron asked.

"Do any of you live here?" Lockhart asked. They all ignored him as a large, flaming bird swooped in front of them.

"We can't all-" Ginny started.

"Phoenixes are strong," Annabeth said. "It'll easily be able to carry all of us." They all gripped each other's hands, Elliot holding onto Lockhart, Lockhart onto Ron, Ron clung to Maddy who had tied Hermione to her back with a rope Elliot had conjured, then Maddy clung to Percy, who held onto Annabeth, who held onto Ginny, who held onto Ron, who held to Harry, who held to Fawkes.

Fawkes flew upwards, Maddy was horrified and she could tell Percy was pretty scared too by the way the hand she was gripping had tensed.

Maddy sighed in relief when they landed back in Myrtle's bathroom.

"You're alive," the ghost blankly said to them.

"There's no need to sound so disappointed," Harry grumbled, wiping some blood, diary ooze and slime from the drakon off of his glasses.

"Where to now?" Ron asked, he was gripping Harry's arm to keep himself balanced.

"Let's play follow the phoenix," Elliot said as Fawkes swooped out of the bathroom, leading the way down the corridor. They followed the glowing bird and eventually found themselves outside of McGonagall's office, miraculously not running into anyone in the hallway.

Harry knocked and opened the door, the nine of them stood awkwardly in the doorway, all covered in varying degrees of blood -Lockhart only had some on his hand from Ron's hand and Ginny had some all over her from hugging Harry and Ron- as well as diary ooze and drakon saliva in Harry and Maddy's case. There was a shriek of "Ginny!" quickly followed by , quickly followed by her husband, practically tackled her daughter. All the Weasleys were gathered in the room along with McGonagall and Dumbledore.

then embraced Harry, Ron and Elliot who grimaced in pain, she clearly wanted to hug all nine of them but she had to make due with the three of them as they were the closest to her and the most she could wrap her arms around.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" She exclaimed, reluctantly letting go of them

"I think we'd all like to know that," McGonagall said, she was suspiciously eying Percy and Annabeth who were awkwardly standing there, holding several shields.

Harry took the still leaking diary from Maddy and walked forward, placing the Sorting Hat, sword and diary on the desk. Then, the eight of them who were conscious began telling them what had happened, Maddy made up a story about how she'd contacted Annabeth and Percy the minute she'd heard about the drakon taking Ginny, and they apparated to the edge of the Hogwarts boundaries and met up with them on their way to the chamber, Dumbledore and McGonagall seemed doubtful of this but let it drop. Snape arrived in the middle of their retelling, sneering the whole time.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall prompted him as he paused, "so you found out where the entrance was -breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add- but how on earth did you all get out of there alive?" They all relayed their version of events to everyone else.

"What interests me most," said Dumbledore gently, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

"W-what's that?" said in a stunned voice. "You-Know-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not… Ginny hasn't been… has she?"

"It was this diary," Harry said quickly, picking it up and showing it to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen…"

"He didn't write it," Maddy corrected, her voice filled with disgust, "he split his soul in half and stuck it in the diary." The others looked at her. "It's a horcrux. Which is something I figured out when I was talking to it," she quickly added.

"He made a horcrux when he was _sixteen_?" Elliot exclaimed. "That's incredible." Maddy flicked her very hard beside her eye. " _Ow_."

"Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." Dumbledore turned around to the Weasleys, who were looking utterly bewildered.

"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school… traveled far and wide… sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But, Ginny," said . "What's our Ginny got to do with-with him?"

"His d-diary" Ginny sobbed. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been wr-writing back all year-"

"Ginny!" exclaimed, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything. What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!'

"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it-"

"It was Lucius Malfoy," Harry said. "Maddy and I saw him slip it into your _Standard Book of Spells_ book but we didn't think anything of it. Sorry."

"Miss Weasley should head up to the hospital wing, " Dumbledore said, "it has been a troubling ordeal for her. Miss Granger should be taken as well, as should and Miss de la Mare."

"I'll stay," Elliot said. "I've transcended pain and am mostly just mildly disturbed and I want to see what happens."

Snape and McGonagall informed the kitchens of a feast that would be held that day -it would be small since very few people were staying- and another for the day everyone returned. Dumbledore then lead them to the hospital wing, Annabeth and Percy left to wait for Maddy outside. Dumbledore was about to speak when the door slammed open, revealing Lucius Malfoy, absolutely fuming and with a bandaged-wrapped house elf cowering behind his legs.

"Good evening, Lucius," said Dumbledore pleasantly. almost knocked Harry over as he swept into the room. The elf went scurrying in after him, crouching at the hem of his cloak, a look of abject terror on his face, he was carrying a stained rag with which he was attempting to finish cleaning 's shoes. Apparently had set out in a great hurry, for not only were his shoes half polished, but his usually sleek hair was disheveled. Ignoring the elf bobbing apologetically around his ankles, he fixed his cold eyes upon Dumbledore.

"So, have you stopped the attacks yet?" he sneered. "Have you caught the culprit?"

"We have," said Dumbledore, with a smile.

"Well?" he demanded sharply. "Who is it?"

"The same person as last time, Lucius," said Dumbledore. "But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary." He held up the small black book with the large hole through the center, watching closely. Maddy noticed him pale.

"I see..." he said slowly to Dumbledore.

"A clever plan," said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring straight in the eye. "Because if Harry here-" shot Harry a swift, sharp look "and his friends Ron Weasley, Maddy Mender, Hermione Granger and Elliot de la Mare hadn't discovered this book, Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn't acted of her own free will..." he said nothing. His face was suddenly masklike. "And imagine," Dumbledore went on, "what might have happened then... The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pureblood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and killing muggleborns... Very fortunate the diary was discovered, and Riddle's memories wiped from it. Who knows what the consequences might have been otherwise..."

forced himself to speak. "Very fortunate," he said stiffly. And still, behind his back, the elf was pointing, first to the diary, then to Lucius Malfoy, then punching himself in the head. Harry nodded at the elf, and the elf backed into a corner, now twisting his ears in punishment.

"Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, ?" said Harry. Lucius Malfoy rounded on him and Elliot muttered something while waving her wand and cursed quietly.

"Trying to summon popcorn," she said very quietly to Maddy when said girl gave her an odd look.

"How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?" he said harshly.

"Because you gave it to her," said Harry. "In Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her old Transfiguration book and slipped the diary inside it, didn't you?"

"Prove it," he hissed.

"Oh, no one will be able to do that," said Dumbledore, smiling at Harry. "Not now that Riddle has vanished from the book. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you..." Lucius Malfoy stood for a moment, and he turned to his house-elf.

"We're going, Dobby!" He wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him, he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor.

"Professor Dumbledore," Harry said hurriedly. "Can I give that diary back to , please?"

"Certainly, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly. Harry grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office. Maddy looked out of the doorway, as did Elliot and Ron, they could hear Dobby's squeals of pain. Harry paused, took off one of his shoes, pulled off his slimy, filthy sock, and stuffed the diary into it. Then he ran down the dark corridor, the others followed a bit further behind. He caught up with them at the top of the stairs.

" ," he gasped, skidding to a halt, "I've got something for you-" And he forced the smelly sock into Lucius Malfoy's hand.

"What the-?" ripped the sock off the diary, threw it aside, then looked furiously from the ruined book to Harry. "You'll meet the same sticky end as your parents one of these days, Harry Potter," he said softly. "They were meddlesome fools, too." He turned to go. "Come, Dobby. I said, come." But Dobby didn't move. He was holding up Harry's disgusting, slimy sock, and looking at it as though it were a priceless treasure.

"Master has given Dobby a sock," said the elf in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby."

"What's that?" spat . "What did you say?"

"Got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby-Dobby is free." Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf then he lunged at Harry.

"You've lost me my servant, boy!"

But Dobby shouted, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!" There was a loud bang, and was thrown backward. He crashed down the stairs, three at a time, landing in a crumpled heap on the landing below. He got up, his face livid, and pulled out his wand, but Dobby raised a long, threatening finger.

"You shall go now," he said fiercely, pointing down at Mr. Malfoy. "You shall not touch Harry Potter. You shall go now." Lucius Malfoy had no choice. With a last, incensed stare at the pair of them, he swung his cloak around him and hurried out of sight. "Harry Potter freed Dobby!" said the elf shrilly, gazing up at Harry, moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes. "Harry Potter set Dobby free!"

"Least I could do, Dobby," said Harry, grinning. "Just promise never to try and save my life again." The elf's face split suddenly into a wide, toothy smile. "I've just got one question, Dobby," said Harry as Dobby pulled on Harry's sock with shaking hands. "You told me all this had nothing to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember? Well-"

"It was a clue, sir," said Dobby, his eyes widening, as though this was obvious. "Was giving you a clue. The Dark Lord, before he changed his name, could be freely named, you see?"

"One vague ass clue," Maddy muttered and Elliot began laughing.

"That was amazing, holy shit, I never thought I'd get to see _Lucius Malfoy_ getting beaten up by a _house elf_!" She clutched her stomach. "Truly amazing, that elf deserves an award!"

"Agreed," Ron grinned and the group made their way back to McGonagall's office after Dobby gave Harry a tight hug.

"I believe I told you two that you would be expelled if you broke any more school rules," Dumbledore said to Harry and Ron when they got back into the room. They both went pale while Ron's ears turned a flaming red. "Which goes to show that sometimes someone must eat there words," he continued, they both let out a sigh of relief. "Those of you who fought the basilisk-"

"Drakon," Maddy corrected. "It's misnamed here, basilisks can't be found in Scotland."

"Well then, those of you who fought the _drakon_ will receive Special Awards for Services to the School and - let me see - yes, I think two hundred points apiece for your respective houses." Ron went as brightly pink as Lockhart's valentine flowers and closed his mouth again.

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

Maddy was momentarily confused, having forgotten about the probable ex-Defence professor. She turned and saw that Lockhart was standing in a corner of the room, still wearing his vague smile. When Dumbledore addressed him, Lockhart looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to.

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said quickly, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart-"

"Am I a professor?" said Lockhart in mild surprise. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

"Yes," Elliot nodded. "Very."

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," Ron explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head, his long silver mustache quivering. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" said Lockhart dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He pointed at Harry. "And her and her friends," he pointed to Maddy. "They'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore said to Ron. "I need to have a word with Harry. Harry and Dumbledore stopped in the corridor and the others continued on their way.

"What is it now?" Madam Pomfrey demanded, completely unsurprised at the appearance of the group.

"We killed the drakon!" Maddy chirped. "No more petrifications!"

"You're too happy," Elliot said bitterly. "Can I get fixed first? I'd say I'm in the worst condition."

Madam Pomfrey quickly put them each into beds, she quickly checked over Harry and Maddy and they were told they could go. Maddy rushed to meet Percy and Annabeth.

"Sorry, took longer than expected," she said, panting. "Just so you know, I'll probably pass out, so yeah."

"We'll make sure you don't die," Annabeth rolled her eyes and Maddy grabbed both of their arms and shadow traveled them to Camp Half Blood. Maddy swayed a bit, Percy and Annabeth held her stable, her vision was beginning to go dark and she passed out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you are, Maddy is seriously suprised at the fact that she didn't die with all that shadow travelling, Elliot's arm got absolutely murdered and Percy finally went to Maddy's school after saying that he would find a way there a few times
> 
> The next update will undoubtabley be late since almost all of them have been and I have an exam on thursday so I'll probably be too busy studying to update


	8. An Abundance of Alarm Clocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been forever since I updated, sorry! But exams are over and everyone else is away at the beach so I had time to update again, there's only one chapter left after this one, by the way and I'm hoping to update it in time but I might just post it later this week instead of next week. Unfortunately, progress on PoA is going kind of slowly but I'll probably finish it before the end of next month (maybe). Again, sorry for the long wait.

**Chapter 8: An Abundance of Alarm Clocks**

When Maddy woke up she was laying in the infirmary at Camp Half Blood Annabeth was waiting for her. Maddy asked her how long she'd been asleep; three weeks, then asked what had happened while she was out. It was mostly normal camp stuff, who won the Capture the Flag games, the rare new camper but then there was also the fact that Maude was apparently refusing to talk to anyone except a select few and apparently Maddy and Annabeth were not among those people. Annabeth had overheard something about someone in her family dying and she was pretty sure that had something to do with it -she was really close to her family- but she also thought it might've had something to do with the whole going to magic school and not telling her thing, over all Maddy was pretty sure that Maude was just having a lot of bad things happening to her and piling up into one big bad thing. She just needed time.

"There've been _owls_ -" Annabeth scowled at this "-dropping letters and packages for you, they've been placed in your cabin. Except one, it burst into flames and your friend, Hermione, was yelling about how she was worried about you not responding to letters and just disappearing after fighting the drakon, then someone else, Elliot I think, yelled about getting to boss around first years and 'bigoted asshole second years' and getting to 'destroy all of that mental idiot's not at all hard work in a matter of minutes.'"

"Okay, I have no idea what that last thing's about but it sure sounds like something Elliot would say," Maddy said. "And that yelling letter thing, how many people heard it and how embarrassing was it?"

"Everyone and not very. What was it?"

"A Howler, they're dead funny when they're embarrassing and aimed at other people, one of my friends got one earlier this year because he stole the family flying car and flew it right into a tree. He flew over muggle London, even made headlines before getting to school, nearly got expelled. The Howler was from his mom, she was yelling so loud and that was pretty much all anyone could talk about that day. Truly hilarious."

"Sounds real funny," Annabeth sighed. "Your other letters and packages are on your bed in Cabin Thirteen."

"Thanks," Maddy lept up onto her feet. "I'm just going to go check on those."

"Okay," Annabeth waved lightly as Maddy headed back to her cabin.

Once in the Hades Cabin Maddy noticed seven packages on her bed. The first one she grabbed was from Elliot and she couldn't help but laugh when she pulled off the wrapping paper and an alarm clock tumbled out. There was a letter taped to the box.

_HAPPY CHRISTMAS!_

_I got everyone else alarm clocks too so that alarm clock party IS happening._

Hermione had gotten her two books, one on defensive spells and the other was on Greek magic. She'd also written a letter.

_Dear Maddy,_

_Happy Christmas! I hope you like your books, I wasn't sure at first about getting you books but then I remembered your spell for dyslexia. I got you the book on defence because Lockhart's lessons really are useless and I read that the lives of demigods can be very dangerous so you really need it, even though you're pretty good with your spear, magic would always be helpful._

_The book on Greek magic was really hard to find, apparently greek magic is mostly really dark so we only learn Latin magic at school and there aren't any books with any spells in them in the library but this one does have spells and they're fairly powerful so they're probably above our current level but I'm sure they'll be useful sometime._

_-Hermione_

_P.S. Elliot's insisting on having an 'alarm clock party' and I think is planning on filling your bed with alarm clocks before you return._

Harry got her a box of chocolates and caramels, he also sent a Christmas card that had a picture of snow falling on the front, she took a moment to watch the snowfall in flurries and streams before opening it. The inside of the card just said 'Happy Christmas' and that he remembered her saying that chocolate and caramel were her two favourite foods.

Ron had gotten her a quill that corrected spelling mistakes -Maddy thought that he'd probably talked to to Hermione about present possibilities but she was grateful, her spelling had never been that good-, Hagrid had sent her a box of his rock cakes -perhaps the Stolls could do something with them...- Ginny had given her a sort of makeshift pendant with protective charms on it -thanks to Hermione and Elliot- and Maddy had immediately slid it onto her Camp necklace beside her spear pendant, then Mrs Weasley had sent her a hand knitted, black sweater with the letter 'M' knitted in with green yarn as well as some homemade cookies that were delicious. Maddy thought that she would have to share the sweets she'd gotten, there was no way she could eat all of them as she had no wish to become sick.

She decided to write back to Hermione since she'd sent a Howler. A _Howler_. She must have been pretty worried.

_Hermione,_

_I'm fine. Not dead! I just passed out for THREE WEEKS(okay, with that length I might as well have been dead. Same thing, right?) and you should NOT worry about that, it's just a thing that happens when I exert too much energy, happens to every demigod(the first time Nico shadow travelled he passed out for two weeks and that was just one travel, though he did go to China on accident...) anyway I really should have passed out before even getting to Hogwarts with Percy and Annabeth, there was SO MUCH shadow traveling. First I went to Camp, then Percy's house, then back to Camp, then back to Hogwarts, then fought the drakon, then back to camp... I have no clue how I managed that but I did._

_Anyway, WHY A HOWLER THE ENTIRE CAMP HEARD, seriously you could have sent a regular letter. It's fine though, Annabeth relayed the general gist of the message after I woke up. What's that about Elliot getting to boss around first and second years and destroying all of Lockhart's work?_

_Christmas presents will be arriving soon(I may or may not have neglected to buy them, but I'll send Melinoe with them soon)_

_-Maddy_

_P.S. I refuse to go back to school yet, I missed out on my break being basically comatose can you just tell our teachers it's a family problem or something? And do all my homework? I haven't even started on my homework for the holidays..._

_P.P.S. The alarm clock party will be annoyingly beautiful, Hermione, look forward to it, we'll annoy literally everyone!_

_P.P.P.S. No you cannot ask me questions via letters(I need to RELAX), no, I don't know if Iris Messages work with anything other than drachmas and yes, you can tell our friends about my dad. Just Ron, Elliot, Harry and Bella if she wakes up before I get back. Make sure they know not to tell anyone else. JUST THEM._

She rolled up the piece of parchment and handed it to Melinoe, who flew off out of the window. Maddy then slid on Mrs Weasley's sweater, which was very warm and comfortable and just a bit large, just how she liked her clothes. Mrs Weasley must've picked up on that while she was staying at the Weasley's during the summer.

Maddy left Cabin Thirteen with the rock cakes and cookies -no, she would not share the chocolates and caramels, yes, she thought the cookies were the best gods damn cookies she'd ever had the pleasure of eating- and went in search of the Stolls, giving a cookie to the friends she passed by, though Maude completely ignored her when she tried to talk to her. That made Maddy more than a little sad.

When Travis and Connor got the rock cakes they grinned mischievously and ran away with two cookies each.

Maddy spent the two weeks she refused to return to Hogwarts just goofing around with Annabeth and Grover as well as a few others -she actually got along with Clarisse la Rue for once. _Clarisse_ \- and trying to get Maude to talk to her again and get the reason for her newfound silence out of her but it didn't work.

Hermione had written back fairly quickly, but just happened to be rather vague in answers. She fussed over Maddy not going back to school, attached her homework assignments -provided by Elliot- and just said that she would have to wait to see what Elliot meant when she was talking about bossing people around.

When two weeks had passed -after Hermione figured out that galleons also worked for Iris Messages she managed convince(guilt) Maddy into only taking off the amount of time the break was supposed to be- Maddy didn't even know how she'd managed to complete all the homework. Well, it was probably thanks to Annabeth helping her comb through the textbooks and lots of breakfast-lunch and lunch-dinner IMs with Hermione who didn't directly tell her the answers but helped a bit.

After saying goodbye to her friends at Camp Half Blood, Maddy shadow travelled back to Hogwarts. She pushed open the doors and walked into the entrance hall. The minute her foot passed the doors Peeves dropped a huge armful of alarm clocks on her. It turned out that Elliot had managed to convince him to periodically do so to her, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Fred, George -who both had _volunteered_ to be victims- and herself as well, in fact the only thing keeping her from having Peeves do it to Bella as well was Hermione practically screeching at her when she suggested it. Apparently Elliot had 'improved' the plans for the alarm clock party; dropping alarm clocks on them all was the first part and the second part was that the alarm clocks that Elliot, Peeves -who was quickly beginning to take a liking to her as much as the twins who had begun to enlist Peeves for prank help- Fred and George had strategically placed around the castle would be set off while Harry, Ron, Maddy, Elliot and Hermione were in Potions and Fred and George were in Transfiguration, and those two rooms just happened to have the biggest abundance of alarm clocks second only to Snape's office and the Great Hall.

It turns out that that thing about Elliot getting to boss people around had to do with the fact that both she and Hermione had been enlisted to teach the first and second years Defence and, in the time Maddy had been away, Elliot had also been approved for third and fourth years as well and was working on fifth year("Well I pretty much wrote the curriculum for those five years!" Elliot had exclaimed when confronted by exactly how insane she was being) Apparently, there was quite literally not a single person who wanted the job so the best students had been enlisted, Hermione and Elliot were the only _actually willing_ teachers and Hermione probably would have helped Elliot with the years about second year if it weren't for the fact that she would have to miss a lot of classes, something Elliot absolutely did not care about in any way, shape or form and no one protested because she took the tests and did the homework and still passed with flying colours despite the fact that she was never in class.

When Maddy had gone to her bed on her first day back at lunch she found that Elliot had indeed completely filled it with alarm clocks and everyone she touched turned into either a rubber duck, soap, a _lit_ firework or a frog. While Maddy worked on getting rid of the mess Elliot stood in the doorway of the dorm cackling madly and taking pictures to show Fred and George who had helped immensely with this -something else that had evidently happened in Maddy's absence was the fact that those three had teamed up and became an unstoppable pranking machine and it was the most terrifying thing ever, according to both students and teachers, _especially_ when Lee Jordan joined them, which happened quite a bit.

"Alright, but we're talking after Potions," Ron said after Maddy had, very loudly, said that they should be getting to class or Snape might perform a vivisection on them(which resulted in having to explain what exactly a vivisection was to everyone except Hermione and Elliot) in order to avoid the undoubtedly awkward conversation to ensue which would probably consist of a slurry of questions from her friends and answers of varying vagueness from her.

"Of course," she said in a way she hoped would conceal the fact that she very much did not want to do such a thing, "I wouldn't expect anything else."

"I hope the alarms go off in time," Elliot said. "I'm taking the third year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws boggart hunting in the dungeons and I've decided to pass by Snape's classroom at the exact time they're set to ring. I expect it to be a very entertaining show. Hopefully I'll be able to succeed in summoning popcorn this time, it'd be embarrassing if I, as a teacher, wouldn't be able to provide the appropriate foods for enjoyable entertainment."

"I still don't approve," Hermione muttered. "And I don't think you should spend class time listening in to our class."

"Well, who's teaching whom here?" Elliot asked haughtily.

"We teach together!" Hermione bristled.

"Yeah, well, maybe you'd have a say in the curriculum if you hadn't decided learning in class was more important than teaching those of your generation, showing off and making people older than you listen to you."

"Is _that_ why you teach?" Harry asked.

"No, well partially, but it's genuinely fun. I'm thinking of going into teaching after graduation."

"Well, you still shouldn't use class time to do something off topic!"

"Hermione, boggarts are a completely normal thing for third years to cover, in fact they should have covered them first thing this year but thanks to the egomaniacal moron they didn't, being able to actually face off against one is good and better for them, they get to actually get a good, thorough education." Hermione scowled at Elliot but couldn't argue with that, especially as Elliot began to run away shouting about the bell ringing in a minute, spurring the other four to rush off to Potions, just barely making it to their seats before the bell rang.

Snape took roll in his usual menacing way, stopping at Maddy to comment about her appearance in class to which she had simply said that she had practically been in a coma for three weeks and it was quickly dropped, even though the greasy bat obviously wanted to question her further, probably saying something about the fact that it had been exactly three weeks since term started but he just continued on with the roll.

About half way through the class period the alarm clocks that Elliot, Fred, George and Peeves had set up went off and while the class seemed mostly annoyed from it, there were several people snickering, especially as Snape's frustration grew as he found even destroying the alarm clocks didn't stop the noise. After about ten minutes of agitation and telling whoever it was that was laughing to cut it out Snape realized that the loud, not at all concealed laughter was coming from outside of the classroom, so he marched over to the door and flung it open, revealing a hallway full of thirteen year old Gryffindors and Ravenclaws scattered about the hallway, all giggling in varying states of composure.

When Snape demanded of Elliot what was happening she promptly replied that Eddie Carmichael had told a very funny joke ("Mr Carmichael just told a rather humourous joke, Professor," Elliot had said. "Didn't you, Eddie? Go on, tell him!") Carmichael's joke had apparently been very funny indeed -even though Maddy knew that that was not the reason the class had been laughing he apparently had a very good sense of humour- and Maddy was more than a little disappointed that she couldn't hear Carmichael's joke as he was farther down the corridor but those closer to the door all burst into laughter and Dean Thomas even knocked over his cauldron, thankfully he had made very little progress and it just stained everything it touched into a very garish shade of pink that would fade in a few days. Unfortunately, neither Snape nor Malfoy had been splashed, though Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and Blaise Zabini had. Parkinson didn't seem too displeased by it but Bulstrode and Zabini had been thoroughly annoyed and angry -Bulstrode threatened various acts of violence towards Dean.

During the break after Potions Maddy had been pulled into an abandoned classroom to explain about being the daughter of Hades and answer their questions. It, overall, went pretty good, at least until Hermione began pestering her about her face. Maddy had then, very reluctantly revealed that a war had begun for the demigods and the first battle of it had taken place over the summer, then she showed them her eye and that went _very_ badly. Hermione tried to convince her to see Madam Pomfrey but she managed to get away with _not_ doing that by telling her that the Apollo healers couldn't do anything more about it so the mediwitch _definitely_ couldn't help.

At dinner, Fred and George had dragged Elliot and Maddy over to the Gryffindor table so they could celebrate their roaring success with the alarm clocks away from the only students who weren't happy about it and the return(or resurrection as the twins had called it, which, unbeknownst to them, was very fitting) of Maddy. Hermione wasn't sure if that was a great idea but the other six of them had reassured her that Maddy and Elliot didn't care if they got points deducted or detention because Elliot had just won the day and also had the amazing ability to not care about anything unless she wanted to and Maddy was convinced that she couldn't get a detention worse than the one last year when she'd seen Voldemort sucking a unicorn dry and she had already been through worse.

Elliot and Maddy managed to get away with eating at the Gryffindor table with twenty points deducted from Slytherin each and two detentions. A very small price to pay for a very fun meal. It seemed Dumbledore knew that at least someone in the group had been responsible for the alarm clock and that all of them had been in on it as Maddy had noticed him wink at them sometime during the meal and he, along with Flitwick, were the only professors that seemed to be enjoying the alarm clock fiasco that was still heavily persistent throughout dinner and Maddy was certain that was why they hadn't been given a week's worth of detentions and one hundred points deducted each.

McGonagall and Sprout had taken to wearing some of Sprout's earmuffs that they used while repotting the Mandrakes, Snape wasn't even present, Hagrid had some sponges shoved in his ears and all the other teachers had taken to their own ways of blocking out the sound -most seemed to have used silencing charms- sans Dumbledore and Flitwick who seemed to be engaged in a pleasant conversation.

Overall the only relatively bad thing that had happened -and it wasn't that bad really, just unplanned, unexpected and unwanted but ultimately Maddy decided made her life easier- was that Elliot and then Harry and then Ron had offhandedly mentioned _something_ about Maddy being a demigod and Fred and George were immediately suspicious. The other five ended up dragging the twins into an abandoned classroom and explained everything to them, then the unpleasant interrogation continued. In the end, Fred and George took it really well and made her promise to help them with their pranking, to which Elliot began threatening her into it before she could even say if she would or wouldn't.

"There's no need to threaten me!" Maddy had exclaimed through laughs. "I was already going to agree!"

"Well then," Fred said as he and George exchanged a glance and George reached into his pocket, "since we found out one of your secrets-"

"-you should know one of ours," George finished, pulling out a folded up piece of parchment that was completely blank.

"What it is?" Harry asked.

"The secret to our success," Fred said proudly.

"The Marauder's Map!" George added in an equally proud tone, taking out his wand he tapped the paper and said, " _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_."

The minute he finished saying this, thin lines of ink began to spread across the parchment like a spider's web originating from the point where George's wand touched it. The lines crisscrossed and turned and eventually formed out the words:

_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

When the twins opened up the map everyone was stunned silent, it was a perfect map of Hogwarts with moving dots for every person. There was a large cluster in the Great Hall, Snape was hidden away in his storeroom, there were several dots in the hospital wing and each of the common rooms as well as the library and wandering the halls and there was someone, a Sybill Trelawney, in the North Tower. Maddy quickly found the small cluster that was her, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Elliot, Fred and George.

Maddy found herself absolutely appalled that out of all her questions the one that made top priority was, "Messrs?"

"Fantastic first question to ask," Elliot rolled her eyes.

"It refers to multiple men or a company," Hermione explained. "I don't think it's used outside of Great Britain, so I suppose you've never heard of it."

"Yeah, that would explain it," Maddy nodded.

"How'd you come across this?" Hermione shrewdly asked the twins.

"When we were in our first year, Hermione," George began, "when we were young, carefree and innocent-" Harry and Ron snorted. "Well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

"We let off a dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason-" Fred continued.

"-so he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual -detention, disembowelment- and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked _Confiscated and Highly Dangerous_.

"You didn't-" Hermione gaped.

"Well, what else could we have done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed the map."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"I can't believe-" Hermione spluttered.

"Brilliant!" Maddy grinned.

"Hang on," Ron said, "Elliot, did you already know about this?"

"Well duh," she said. "How else am I supposed to assist these two nutters in their amazing pranking plans and vice versa?"

"You told Elliot about this before your own brother!" Ron exclaimed.

"What're these?" Harry asked, pointing to some trails that lead off the map.

"Secret passages," Fred grinned.

"This one here leads to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade," George began pointing out the passages, "Filch knows about these four, but the rest are fine, we're pretty sure we're the only ones who know about them. Though we don't know where the one under the Whomping Willow leads."

"You'd have to be bloody suicidal to try to get under that thing," Fred added, shaking his head.

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.

" _Mischief managed_ ," George tapped his wand to the map again and it was wiped clear.

"Don't you think that's a bit dangerous?" Hermione asked. "I mean, after what happened with Ginny, this is clearly clever enough and-"

"Hermione, we've had this for four years," Fred said offhandedly. "If it was going to do anything to us it would have happened already."

"We're pretty sure it's not cursed," George added.

"Well it's definitely not another horcrux," Maddy said.

"Yeah," Elliot nodded. "It's fine. And speaking of horcruxes, I still can't believe that You-Know-Who made one when he was _sixteen_ that's impress- _Ow!_ " She exclaimed as she was hit with a copy of _Mornings with Mummies_ and then _Acrobatics with Acromantulas_.

"You deserved that," Harry said.

"Definitely," Ron nodded.

"Stop praising Voldemort!" Maddy exclaimed, sliding her bag back onto her shoulder after closing it back up.

"I'm not _praising_ the git," Elliot shook her head. "I'm just pointing out that that's a very diffi- _Ow! Can you not?_ " This time it was _Holidays with Hags_ making a hard impact with her gut.

"Sorry, no," Maddy said in a completely incensere tone, bouncing a copy of _Dancing with Doxies_ in her hand, ready to throw it if need be.

Fred and George asked what a horcrux was, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Maddy explained and whenever Elliot tried to help in the explanation she was hit with yet another copy of one of Lockhart's many, many awful books.

After some more chatting they headed back to their common rooms so they could get back before curfew -this was mostly at the prodding of Hermione because the rest of them really didn't mind being out late.

* * *

"Did someone tell the Ministry about the Chamber of Secrets?" Maddy suddenly asked as she, Harry, Hermione and Ron left the hospital wing -Elliot, Fred and George were being scolded for placing miscellaneous items that aren't good for a healing environment by Bella's bed for when she wakes up instead of the usual candy, some of these items were toilets seats, alarm clocks and fireworks and of course there was much more that they tried to leave her.

"No, why?" Harry asked.

"Well, shouldn't some people from like the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures or something inspect the chamber to make sure there aren't any other drakons or something like that? Maybe some Aurors just to be safe and maybe the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes?"

"You know, that's a pretty good point," Hermione said. "Should we tell Dumbledore?"

"No, just going ahead and doing it yourself is quicker," Maddy said. "Normally, at least in the muggle government, it takes a while for things like this to process and it normally takes even longer if you go through an extra person."

"How do you know that?" Ron asked.

"You'd be surprised by the things that happen when you spend a year and a half tracking lycanthropes around North America."

"What are lycanthropes?" Harry asked.

"Werewolves."

"Oh."

"So, should we should write those departments?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, probably," Maddy nodded.

"So, which departments are we writing?" Ron asked.

"Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Hermione began listing them off, "Magical Accidents and Catastrophes and Magical Law Enforcement just to be safe."

"Yeah, I don't know why but this seems like something the DMLE should handle," Maddy nodded. "I can send Melinoe to the head of the DMLE."

"I can send Hedwig to the head of the Magical Creatures department," Harry offered.

"I'll ask Percy if I can send Hermes to Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," Ron grumbled. "He probably won't agree, though."

"If not we can just use a school owl," Hermione said, Ron, very reluctantly, went to find Percy and the other three wrote out letters to their respective recipients, Hermione writing the one for the head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Maddy's letter to the head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones(didn't she have a daughter at Hogwarts? Susan Bones?) was rather short but to the point, as was Harry's letter to Agnes Bourne, the head of the Beast Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but Hermione's letter to Marcus Anderson, the head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was very long and eloquently worded("You're trying too hard," Harry had said when he looked at the long roll of parchment).

Maddy's letter read;

_To the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Amelia Bones or whomever it may concern,_

_Hogwarts has been facing the problem of a drakon(or basilisk) since school has started, the problem was resolved but the location of the drakon(the Chamber of Secrets) has been revealed and we thought that it's important to get it inspected to make sure there aren't any other drakons in the Chamber and that it would be good to have some Aurors or other trained wizards with those who go to inspect the Chamber just in case._

_Letters are also being sent to Agnes Bourne and Marcus Anderson regarding this matter._

_From a concerned Hogwarts student_

Once Ron returned from wherever he had found Percy -most likely either Gryffindor tower or the library- he reported that Percy had gotten mad at him for doubting both Dumbledore and the Ministry's prowess and saying that the heads of such important departments couldn't be bothered with such things so the four of them journeyed up to the Owlery, having a short delay to watch Filch and Mrs Norris chase after Elliot, Fred and George. Apparently the minute Madam Pomfrey had let them out of her grasp they'd gone off and set of a great deal of fireworks and dungbombs a few corridors down. It was actually a rather entertaining sight to watch the very short Filch run after the three very tall and fit students.

"I have the very persistent feeling that those three are going to blow up the school," Maddy had said as they disappeared down the corridor that lead to the library and the four of them continued up to the owlery after voicing their agreements.

* * *

"What are you doing now?" Hermione groaned as Elliot was pulled away from the table in the library where they were working on homework and studying by Fred, George and Lee Jordan.

"You'll see," the four of them said together and Fred and George winked as they plopped down at a table further down in the library.

"It's scary how quickly Elliot basically became one of them," Ron said.

"Is that a lizard?" Harry asked as George pulled a jar out of his bag that contained a single, flame red lizard.

"Now they have a turtle," Maddy sighed, exasperated as Fred pulled out another jar, this one with a small, black turtle.

"Why do they have a bat?" Harry asked as Lee pulled out a third jar that held a very agitated looking bat.

"Oh good, fireworks," Ron muttered as Elliot pulled out some very small Filibuster Fireworks.

"What could they be doing?" Hermione asked nervously as the jars were opened and Fred, George and Lee each placed a hand in one of the jars while holding one of the fireworks.

"Maybe we should just ignore them," Maddy sighed and turned back to her Transfiguration homework, Hermione followed suit but Harry and Ron remained transfixed, speculating on what exactly they could be doing.

"Oh," Hermione suddenly looked up from her essay again, "I heard Professor Sprout saying that the Mandrakes should be fully grown before exams. I just hope we're able to catch Bella up, think how awful it'd be if she got held back."

"Well, I bet El will be more than happy to help her catch up," Maddy pointed out. "She's a surprisingly devoted teacher."

"That really was surprising, she said that she thinks she wants to teach for a living but I think she's too busy to do that, she has to grade papers for third through fifth year alone and do homework and tests for other classes."

"Hmm, maybe, speaking of Elliot teaching people three years older than her, why aren't you going above second year? You certainly know enough to teach up to fifth year with Elliot."

"Well, I would but I'm already missing more classes than I want to while teaching the first years, I don't want to have to miss any more than that."

"But Elliot's doing fine and she's missing more than twice the amount you are."

"Yeah but she's been doing magic since she was eight, she has an advantage."

"What do you mean, 'since she was eight?'" Maddy asked incredulously.

"Apparently her dad made her get a wand when she was eight for self defence, I think, which is weird because neither of her parents seem to really like her and they never spend time with her outside of holidays."

"How do you know that?"

"She said something about it while you were-" Hermione stopped when a small, black turtled hobbled between her and Maddy, spewing sparks of various shapes and designs. "Did they feed fireworks to a turtle?"

"Yeah, I think so," Maddy nodded.

"And a lizard," Ron said.

"That didn't go as well," Harry frowned.

"I think you mean the lizard exploded," Ron gestured to the now vacant table that had a splattering of what was probably lizard guts on it, as did the ceiling and some of the surrounding bookshelves.

"Oh, I wish I'd seen that," Maddy sighed.

"That bat went pretty well, though," Harry said, pointing to the bat, which was flying away as fast as it could, propelled greatly by the fireworks that were apparently exploding in its rear.

"That's horrible," Hermione frowned.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they're never let back in here," Ron continued, "Madam Pince was pretty mad."

"That must be one hell of an understatement," Maddy snorted. "I'm surprised she didn't flay them then and there and then take them to Filch to hang by their thumbs in the dungeons."

"Honestly."

"I can't believe they did that," Hermione huffed as Maddy pulled her camera out of her bag and began to take pictures of both the lizard entrails, exploding bat and firework turtle.

"But why didn't the turtle blow up?" Harry asked.

"The shell?" Ron suggested.

"No, that wouldn't work," Maddy replied. "It's probably going to die soon, though. Something like internal bleeding or severe burns on it's guts. Ooh, look, it's the internal bleeding one!" She declared happily and snapped some more pictures of the tiny turtle as dark blood began to leach out of it's face.

"Ugh, gross," Ron groaned and pushed himself away from the table as Hermione slammed her book closed, gathered up all her things and marched into the depths of the library and Harry watched in mortified fascination as the bleeding turtle began to screech as it waddled around between his star chart and Maddy's Transfiguration essay.

"Look on the bright side," Maddy said as she took yet another picture and Harry began worrying about his homework as he tried to shuffle it out from underneath the turtle who had, at this point, fallen over onto it's back, "it's due tonight, you can just say a turtle died on it and hand over this picture." She handed over the latest picture of a turtle falling onto it's back as it bled out on what was unmistakably Harry's star chart.

"Oh no," Ron moaned when Harry finally managed to get his star chart out from under the turtle and it slid over onto one of the books Ron had been looking through for his History of Magic essay. The minute one drop of blood got on it the book snapped closed, flew over to Ron and began hitting him in the head. "Ow! Bloody hell!"

" _Shh!_ " Madam Pince hissed a few shelves down.

"This bloody book's assaulting me!"

"I think now is the time for a hasty retreat," Maddy stuffed her camera, pictures, books, parchment, inkwell and quill into her bag and ran out of the library as Madam Pince entered the scene and began yelling about defiling books and called them 'depraved children.'

"What chaos has ensued?" Elliot suddenly appeared, upside down and hanging from a high window where her feet were being held down by three pairs of hands.

"The turtle began bleeding out of it's face," Maddy began, "because of internal bleeding and it got all over my and Harry's work, then some of the blood got on a library book, started beating up Ron and Madam Pince started yelling at us for defiling books. I made a mad dash but Harry and Ron are still in there."

"Awesome!" The unmistakable synchronicity of the Weasley twins echoes from the window along with the added, slightly out of sync, voice of Lee.

"Did you-"

"-get pictures?"

"Here," Maddy pulled out some of the pictures and handed them to Elliot who displayed some amazing core strength as she bent upwards and put them in the greatly outstretched hand of one of the twins. "Why're you up there?"

"It's fun," Elliot said. "Besides, I like randomly springing down on people, I once did it to McGonagall, god that was interesting. I really want to do it to Snape."

"That would be incredible!" One of the twins exclaimed and the library doors slammed open and Harry and Ron stumbled out, covered in ink, turtle blood and paper cuts.

"What happened to you two?" Maddy asked.

"You don't want to know," Harry groaned and Maddy laughed.

"What're you lot doing?" Ron asked Elliot and the twins incredulously. "How'd you even get up there?"

"Now, now, little brother," one of the twins said.

"We can't share all our secrets," the other finished.

"What kind of world would that be," Lee added.

"Simply put; magic," Elliot smirked. "Where's Hermione?"

"Somewhere in the depths of the library," Ron rolled his eyes. "She left the minute the turtle started bleeding."

"Is it dead yet?" Maddy asked.

"One of the books missed us and crushed it," Harry said.

"Oh," Maddy sighed.

"It might've been dead before that though..." Ron said thoughtfully.

"Fantastic, so it did have an exceedingly slow and painful death!" Maddy grinned.

" _Why?_ _Why_ do you take joy in that?"

"Because I die a slow painful death multiple times a day."

"Same," Elliot was now swinging back and forth with the help of Fred and George, narrowly avoiding hitting one of the suits of armor.

"Miss de la Mare!" A sharp voice exclaimed and they all turned to see who was talking and Elliot slowly drew to a stop. "Ten points from Slytherin," McGonagall stated. "And ten each from Gryffindor," she added tersely to Lee, Fred and George as Elliot dropped down to her feet and the three of them jumped from the window. "It'll be detentions for the four of you if you do that again."

"Of course," the four of them said solemnly, but the minute McGonagall was out of sight and they could no longer hear her footsteps echoing through the halls they each cracked a wide grin and wordlessly ran off.

"Yeah, no, they are definitely going to destroy the school," Ron shook his head.


	9. Doctor, Healer, Medic, Mender

**Chapter 9: Doctor, Healer, Medic, Mender**

Elliot and Hermione had gotten top priority to how the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom was set up -as well as the office- as they were the only people who were consistently teaching -for sixth year there were alterations between the two best sixth years and some seventh years who somehow got roped into it and the seventh years got taught by other professors in their free time- and very few people complained to the room's new appearance, Elliot had set it up excellently.

All the very self indulgent things Lockhart had hung around the room had been torn down and instead replaced by a series of chalkboards and one cork board. There were seven chalkboards that had the lessons for each year on them placed around the room, then one at the front of the room which was blank -Hermione was writing ' _Professors Granger and de la Mare_ ' at the top of it- then to that board's left was another titled ' _THINGS LOCKHART SAID_ ' written in Elliot's very crude and messy handwriting and under that was a list of things in different handwritings, some of them were crossed out and some had little tally marks down beside them. To the right of the blank board was a cork board titled ' _SCORNED BY THE POMPOUS FOOL_ ' again in Elliot's handwriting. On the cork board were photographs of lots of different witches and wizards with names and biographies and titles of Lockhart's books with each photograph. There were two different small bookshelves, one only had Lockhart's books and the other had all sorts of books that had all either been check out from the library or were brought by someone to put there to teach out of.

Hermione was in the middle of a lecture on Pogrebin and how to protect oneself from them and Elliot crouched down at the bottom right corner of the chalkboard that Hermione had written up things that people should take notes on and was doodling and writing down things that no one but her could make out when the door opened, revealing a second year Ravenclaw, Terry Boot.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see," Boot glanced down at a piece of parchment and began listing off names, "Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Madeline Mender and Elliot de la Mare in his office."

"Can't it be _our_ office?" Elliot asked. "We _are_ teaching after all!"

"He said his office," Boot insisted.

"Come on," Hermione sighed, appearing to be wracking her brain.

"While we're gone," Elliot said, "write down everything you know relating to Defence and we can begin working off of that as well!" She walked over to the door, Ron, Harry and Maddy got to their feet as well.

"Don't break anything. Finnegan, you're in charge until we get back," Hermione said and followed the others out. Boot had already disappeared down the hallway by that time.

"Wonder what this's about," Ron said.

"No idea," Harry shrugged and they began walking down the corridors, making wild speculations about what it could be for, Elliot was rather adamant that Dumbledore had planned some sort of elaborate prank inspired by the alarm clock fiasco, while Hermione thought it would be about their letters to the Ministry, the other four flitted back and forth between increasingly ridiculous theories until they reached the stone gargoyle that lead to the headmaster's office.

"Terry said that password's acid pops," Elliot said and the moment she the words 'acid pops' the gargoyle moved, revealing a long, spiralling staircase. The five of them climbed up the stairs, no longer talking about their speculations, they ascended in a tense silence.

Harry knocked on the door, Dumbledore called them in and the black haired boy pushed open the wooden door. All five of them entered the room and they found that it wasn't just Dumbledore in his office but there were also several others in four different types of uniforms that were really very similar.

"Ah," Dumbledore said happily from behind his desk, his fingers were laced together and placed under his chin, "so Mister Boot successfully delivered my message. Excellent! I would like you five to meet Agnes Bourne, Millicent Coursing and Philip Garcia from the Beast division of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Marcus Anderson and Jamie Flint from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, Amelia Bones, Nereida Bloom and Eleanor Mender from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement-" Hermione, Harry, Ron and Elliot shot a quick glance between Maddy and Eleanor Mender at the mention of her name. Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "-and Jacob Boaring and Diana Blue, who are Ministry healers. Mister Anderson and Madams Bourne and Bones received some letters regarding concerns about the Chamber of Secrets and you five are the only ones who know about the Chamber's location."

"You aren't mad about that, are you, sir?" Hermione asked, looking down at her feet nervously.

"My no," Dumbledore chuckled, "in fact I think that shows great initiative!"

"Told you," Maddy muttered, then inhaled sharply when a foot stamped down on one of her feet.

"However, since the five of your _are_ the only ones who knows how to get into the Chamber I'm afraid I had to take you out of your Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson."

"We would also like your accounts of what happened," Amelia Bones said. "For legal purposes and to help us thoroughly check the Chamber. You can begin telling us when we leave, Albus, there is no need for you to follow, we have this handled."

"Quite, Madam Bones," Dumbledore smiled at the head of the DMLE as the Ministry officials began filing out of the office, Amelia Bones, Nereida Bloom and Eleanor Mender stood in the back of the group to question the five students and record the answers as well as their individual accounts of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets.

"Now, where's the entrance?" Amelia Bones asked upon entering Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry walked forward and quietly hissed something to the out of order tap. Everyone froze and there were a few collective gasps as the sinks began to move and open up into a deep tunnel.

"I'll go first," Nereida Bloom offered.

"Madam Bones, you should go last, make sure everyone gets down, you know," Eleanor Mender said and Amelia Bones nodded in agreement.

"Fine," she said, "get a move on, we don't have all day." Nereida Bloom suddenly leapt into the hole, then Diana Blue jumped, the rest of the Ministry officials followed, then the students jumped and Amelia Bones followed after them.

"You know," Maddy said once she'd straightened up, "this place is actually pretty nice now that I don't have to worry about Ginny dying."

"How does this place fall under the 'nice' category?" Ron asked.

"It just does, okay, Ronald."

"Can you five lead us through the events of the night you fought the drakon?" Amelia Bones asked. They all confirmed and as they walked through the Chamber they talked about what happened.

"Now, who were these other two people?" Nereida Bloom, who was taking notes, asked.

"My cousins," Maddy said. "I knew we'd need help so they apparated into Hogsmeade and we came here as quickly as possible."

"And you had left earlier, you returned with your cousins, how did you know that Miss Ginevra Weasley had been taken into the chamber?" Bloom questioned, fixing Maddy with a steely glare.

"Hermione flooed me," Maddy lied as Bloom looked back down at her notes and furiously scribbled down the interaction with a very nice and big blue quill.

"And why didn't you travel by floo to return, surely that would be quicker?"

"Yeah, probably but we ran out of floo powder and there wasn't time to buy anymore." Bloom turned to Ron but she was stopped by Jamie Flint stopping and saying:

"There's something wrong with the ground here." Nereida Bloom, Amelia Bones and Eleanor Mender began casting a variety of wordless spells and after discussing the results concluded that powerful, dark ground hardening spells had been used. This made Maddy more than a little nervous; her demigod powers could be registered as powerful dark magic, at least they brushed this off for the most part. They stayed there a little longer as the Magical Creatures workers examined the drakon skin and then they moved along. Harry opened the door to the proper chamber and they all flooded in to do their own thing as the DMLE workers got the full story from Harry, Hermione, Ron, Elliot and Maddy.

"...and Elliot began shouting at Harry to move since Riddle _apparently_ told the drakon to go after him even though Harry probably already knew that," Maddy reported, making Elliot groan and thwack Maddy in the back of the head. "What?"

"I'm about ninety percent sure you know why," Elliot replied hotly.

"She didn't want people to know that she's a parselmouth," Hermione whispered.

"Oh, well then. Sorry."

"So you're a parselmouth as well?" Amelia Bones asked. Elliot crossed her arms and scowled but nodded. "So you're the Heir of Slytherin?"

"I am _an_ Heir of Slytherin, there are a lot more descendants of Slytherin then people think and there are a lot more parselmouths than people know," Elliot stated.

"I cannot believe you," Hermione said under her breath.

"Fight me, Granger."

"And why did you keep this ability secret?" Bloom asked.

"Would _you_ go around telling people if the last out parselmouth was You-Know-Who?" Bloom frowned but seemed to see her point and they continued to tell them about what had happened, glazing over the part about Maddy IMing Hades, instead they said that she just stabbed the diary.

"I believe that wraps this up," Amelia Bones nodded. "You five performed extraordinarily well for second years against such a creature. Bloom, you and I should perform our own inspections of this chamber, Eleanor, can you take them back to their class?"

"Of course, Madam Bones," Bloom nodded.

"Right away," Eleanor Mender agreed and ushered them out of the chamber.

After a few minutes of an awkward silence Ron blurted out, "Are you and Maddy related?" She laughed in response.

"Yes, I believe so," she replied. "Same age, looks like me, looks like Alex -my daughter- it's highly likely."

"So, I know who my dad is, and they all know, so if I _am_ your daughter, who's my dad?" Maddy asked.

She paused for a moment and looked around before saying, "Well, since you added in the fact that your friends know, I suppose it _is_ Hades."

"Yep."

"This is the weirdest situation to meet your mother under," Elliot said. "Except for like something with murder probably. There are probably some other things, I just can't think of anything else."

"Being dragged into the Underworld while on guard duty in Kansas," Maddy stated, then after a second of silence she said, "What? That's how I met my dad."

"Wow," Ron said.

"He did have quite a dramatic streak when I knew him, I suppose that hasn't gone away," Maddy's mother chuckled a bit. "Have you met Alex? She's your sister, well half sister, she graduated last year, she was in Hufflepuff."

"I haven't met her, but a few people've mentioned her, not by name and always when asking if I'm related to, well, you."

"What time is it?" Hermione suddenly exclaimed.

"Lunch," Elliot said after a minute. "Oh, come on! It'll be over in a few minutes! I can't teach the Slytherin fourth years on an empty stomach. You Gryffindors are lucky you have History of Magic next you can just take in food or just go to the kitchens, Binns'll never notice."

"Oh, is Binns _still_ teaching?" Maddy's mother asked.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"Unfortunately," Ron added.

"Don't you _love_ teaching, El?" Maddy asked.

"The fourth year Slytherins are the one dark patch in the array of light that is my volunteer career. Because they all think they're smarter than me, they're okay outside of class but insufferable in class."

"I should be getting back to the rest of them," Maddy's mother said, checking her watch as they stopped outside of the Great Hall. "I do need either Miss de la Mare or Mister Potter to go with me so I can actually get into the Chamber."

"Harry, you go," Elliot said, "I want to shove a slice of bread in my face, farewell," she said quickly as she shot into the Great Hall.

"Well then, come along, Mister Potter. Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, make sure you get any notes that he misses. Maddy, I'll be in touch."

"Right," Maddy nodded, as did Hermione and Ron as Harry and Maddy's mum walked away with a wave from Harry.

* * *

On Valentine's Day Maddy and Elliot stumbled into the Great Hall after a long night of being kept up by their respective roommates, leaning on each other and barely keep their eyes open. Upon entering the Great Hall they both abruptly stopped, having been met with the most horrible, garish, disgusting thing Maddy had ever seen. The entire hall was pink and hearts of different shades of red were floating around.

"Nope," Maddy said shortly and they both spun around and began walking away, only to walk head-first into Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"You really don't want to go in there," Elliot said. "Especially not you, Ron," she added, pointing to the youngest Weasley boy, "it'll clash horribly with your hair."

"What're you on about?" Ron asked.

"I'm pretty sure Aphrodite broke in and decorated the Great Hall," Maddy said, completely serious. "It's all pink and floating hearts and just... gross."

"They didn't do anything like that last year," Hermione frowned.

"I'm voting for eating in the kitchens," Elliot said.

"I'm fine with that," Harry shrugged and Ron and Maddy nodded.

"We should just eat in the Great Hall," Hermione said. "Besides, I want to check up on Ginny. And make sure Fred and George aren't doing anything stupid like setting something on fire."

"You mean like you did last year?" Maddy asked and Hermione flushed.

"I thought he was jinxing Harry's broom! How was I supposed to know that's not what he was doing!"

"I want to check up on Ginny too," Ron sighed.

"Yeah, we probably should," Harry agreed and Maddy and Elliot groaned loudly as they were suddenly being dragged into the Great Hall with agitated hissing from Elliot that seemed to concern Harry and Maddy shouting things like ' _I've been blinded!_ ' and ' _Quick! Stab my good eye!_ ' Both of them stopped their respective complaints when they sat at the Gryffindor table instead of the Slytherin table.

"Aren't you two worried about Snape catching you again?" Neville Longbottom asked when Maddy sat down beside him.

"Absolutely not," she shook her head.

" _How?_ " Neville asked, Maddy shrugged.

"Well, I guess it might have something to do with the fact that's he's practically an overgrown bat but-"

" _What_ is Dumbledore wearing?" Ron suddenly asked in a rather loud voice, his ears went red and he began burying himself in his food as Dumbledore actually looked over at the Gryffindor table.

"Nice going, Ronald," Elliot sniggered.

"It's a good thing he's not a red head anymore," Maddy said, grimacing when Dumbledore turned his back. He was wearing robes that were, somehow, even more garish than the Great Hall, it was bright pink with lots of red, red hearts splashed onto it, there was also a golden lining on it and there seemed to be romantic quotes splattered about on it in swirly white text.

"He used to have red hair?" Harry asked. "How do you know?"

"Remember how Riddle said he showed me a memory when I had the horcrux? Well, I saw Dumbledore in the forties, he had red hair and wore a florescent orange set of robes, I thought my eyes would melt."

"That is _awful_ ," Ron made a face.

"Perhaps an outfit coordinator is in order," Elliot said. "Or an intervention. Both are good individually but together they're great and probably ideas that should be acted upon. And before any of you say anything both of my parents get outfit designers and my dad's kind of a freak regarding colours, so the one thing I've picked up on from him is colour schemes. Can't stand a bad one."

"That's not at all something I would've expected," Harry said.

"Why do you think it looks like this? It's horrible and, like Hermione said, they didn't do this last year," Maddy asked.

"I think I heard someone say something about Lockhart scheduling someone to redecorate before he left," Neville said.

"Of course," Ron rolled his eyes.

"Oh my gods, what are those?" Maddy asked, staring at a line of tiny men dressed like little cupids in diapers and carrying bows with heart shaped arrows and little messenger bags marched out of the side door and began to disperse around the Great Hall. The first one that stopped began to sing.

"They're dwarfs," Hermione said.

"This is absolutely horrifying," Elliot said, staring in disgust at one of the cupid-dwarfs who was singing to a dark haired Hufflepuff not far away.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Dumbledore said with a smile. "As I'm sure all of you have noticed this year we are doing something different than usual. It seems that before Gilderoy Lockhart's accident over Christmas he had kindly arranged for all of the wonderful things happening today to take place."

Harry groaned as Dumbledore sat back down and said, "What else do we have to live through today?"

"Probably literal Tartarus," Maddy said. "Reforming monsters and all. Pretty much everyone will die within some amount of time, I don't know when, living people don't really go down there."

"What're you talking about?" Neville asked, eyes wide.

"Uh... It's an American thing."

"My, my, my," Fred dropped down across from Neville and George beside his twin, "sitting at the wrong table again are we."

"I refuse to go back to the Slytherin table!" Elliot exclaimed, holding up a jam covered knife.

"We've had a taste of the heaven that is sitting with the Gryffindors and we're hooked," Maddy said.

"It's just like drugs."

"It's _exactly_ like drugs."

"Those're our little Slytherins," George grinned.

"Oh, we're yours now, are we?" Elliot asked, flicking some food at each of the twins when they nodded and laughed.

* * *

All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers -Maddy had noticed the strange lack of dwarves around the Defence classroom, when she asked Elliot and Hermione about it she found out that Elliot had no tolerance for them and had actually hexed out about a dozen of them- Maddy was very glad when she never got one and Elliot held the same sentiment about not getting any herself. Ron and Hermione seemed a little disappointed not to get any and, as expected, Harry hated receiving his. As was not expected Harry only got one, fortunately it was entertaining.

Apparently what happens when you try to run away from your valentine you get tackled by a dwarf dressed as cupid -causing your bag to rip open and spill ink _all_ over your things- and sing out said valentine where your hair gets compared to a chalkboard and your eyes to a fresh pickled toad.

Maddy's mother kept her word and stayed in contact with her, which meant weekly letters that mostly consisted of Ministry gossip and stories about Maddy's newly found out about sister, Alexandra Mender, from her and then stories about her time at Camp Half Blood and at Hogwarts from Maddy.

Everything continued as was what could only be assumed to be normal for Hogwarts as nothing really happened but classes, homework, tests and people goofing off in their free time.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Elliot, Maddy, Ginny and several other people were gathered in the hospital wing as they waited for the petrified people to wake back up. Madam Pomfrey had already given them all the restoration potion. Everyone was as still as ever, apparently it would take a while for the potion to take effect. Well, it was everyone except Bella, who began to stir the minute she was given the potion.

In a minute she was sitting up and demanding answers as to how long she'd been out, what happened while she was out and if they fixed the petrification problem. Through good natured laughter Harry, Ron, Hermione, Maddy and Elliot explained while Ginny helped a bit but mostly apologized a lot.

After Madam Pomfrey let Bella out and Hermione insisted on getting her caught up in the library they all set off for an empty part of library, which was where Maddy explained to her about being a demigod. Bella's response was unexpected to say the least.

"Thank the gods, I've been tired of hiding. Holy shit, thank you Maddy!" She exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Maddy asked, Ron, Harry and Elliot were gaping at the redhead and Hermione seemed to be thinking furiously.

"I'm also a demigod, so who's your godly parent?"

"Hades."

"So you're Greek? That explains why I haven't seen you around camp."

"There are demigods that aren't Greek?" Maddy asked. "Wait, are you not Greek? What are you then?"

"Roman, my mum's Bellona," Bella said.

"So you were named after your mum?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, my dad's _awful_ at names. I used to have a dog, I let my dad name her, he named her Barky because she barked. But I do have an _adorable_ nickname!"

"What's Bellona the goddess of?" Hermione asked.

"War," Bella said.

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Yep! I'm vicious on the battlefield, so vicious I'm in the first cohort!"

"What is a cohort?" Harry asked.

"Those are like little armies that the Ancient Romans had, right?" Elliot asked. Bella nodded.

"The first's the best. See, I'm fantastic," Bella said.

"But if you're a demigod how did the drakon petrify you? We're naturally immune to that."

"It probably has something to do with the fact that drakons aren't Roman, so yeah. Now, what things have I missed? I don't want to be held back like some sort of idiot, not even Crabbe and Goyle got held back last year and I refuse to be held back when they weren't." Hermione and Elliot leapt on this and began telling her all about the things she missed while the rest of them began to slave away in completing their homework.

There was a feast that night, where McGonagall announced that the end of year exams had been cancelled (" _Oh no!_ " Hermione had exclaimed while Bella, Maddy, Elliot and pretty much everyone else began cheering).

The rest of the year, as after Christmas, went by incredibly fast in a nice lull of repetition and boringness where Maddy and Bella quelled their ADHD fueled hyperactiveness by practice fighting each other in empty parts of the castle or the grounds instead of just running around, they would mostly do hand-to-hand since sword-on-spear sparring was not the easiest thing and Stygian Iron apparently had the habit of making giant black blisters pop up around the cut or anywhere the blade touches you if you aren't a child of Hades.

All too soon they were leaving on the scarlet Hogwarts Express, Maddy and Bella sitting on the floor and the others in their seats, the others now included Fred, George and Ginny, so it was very crowded but nobody minded. Elliot could be heard grumbling on occasion about not being able to continue teaching the next year.

"Here," Harry said as they were getting off the train, he was scribbling down something on multiple pieces of paper. "This is called a telephone number-"

"Ah yes, the illustrious telephone, I believe there are some wild flocks around camp," Maddy said as she took one of the pieces of paper.

"Well I wasn't sure."

"Almost every demigod has an emergency mobile," Bella said.

"I've never used a telephone before," Elliot said. "And neither has Ron, I know that for a fact."

"Oh, right. Ron, I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer - he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to..."

"Definitely," Ron said.

"Unless something comes up all summer, which I doubt will happen, I'll call too," Maddy said.

"Absolutely calling you," Bella said. "From the safety of New Rome, so that'll take a while. Gotta go _all_ the way to California."

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?

"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..."

"I should go," Maddy said. "Don't want to miss lunch!" With final farewells, Maddy ran to an empty part of Platform 9¾ and shadow travelled back to Camp Half Blood.

**Author's Note:**

> So the first chapter of CoS! There are ten chapters in this one and they're all longer than in PS, this is one of the shortest chapters so yeah


End file.
